Interactive information method and system

ABSTRACT

Methods of providing information using an interactive information device ( 2 ) are provided. A first method comprises displaying on a display ( 3 ) of an interactive information device ( 2 ) information selected from information for display stored in a memory of or accessible to the interactive information device ( 2 ), establishing a communications connection between the interactive information device ( 2 ) and a mobile communications device ( 20 ), and transmitting data to the interactive information device ( 2 ) from the mobile communications device ( 20 ) and/or from the interactive information device ( 2 ) to the mobile communications device ( 20 ). A further method comprises a tag device detecting the presence of a mobile communications device ( 20 ), transmitting data stored in the tag device to the mobile communications device ( 20 ) or an information device ( 2 ) in response to the detection, preferably transmitting at least some of the data, received from the tag device, from the mobile communications device ( 20 ) to an information device ( 2 ), and displaying on a display ( 3 ) of the information device ( 2 ) information relating to the transmitted data received from the mobile communications device ( 20 ). One or more systems and/or means for carrying out the methods are provided.

The present invention relates to methods of providing information and tointeractive information systems, and in particular to, preferablytouch-screen, interactive methods and systems for providing informationto, and for use with, mobile communications devices, particularly whensuch devices are in close proximity with the touch-screen interactiveinformation systems.

It is has long been known to provide information services in both publicand private environments to enable people to obtain information forexample about the environment and/or other related or unrelatedinformation. Information can be provided using, for example, aninformation display. These displays range from simple displays such assigns, instructions or other indicators, and provide the viewer with agreat variety of useful information such as directions, operatinginstructions, warnings, advertisements, product or service details,availability or timing information, etc. Such displays are useful butare limited in the information they can convey and if the informationchanges, the display must be replaced.

It is becoming increasingly desirable to provide information displaysthat convey a greater amount of information and/or more detailedinformation. It is also desirable to provide information displays thatcan be readily updated. In order to meet these demands, electronicdisplay systems have been proposed and are widely used where it isnecessary to provide a large amount of information that needs regularupdating.

For example, electronic displays are commonly used in airports, stationsand the like to display arrivals and departures information. Howevereven though these screens can be updated from a central informationsource, there is still a limit to the amount of information that can bedisplayed on a single screen and it is often necessary to configure thedisplays to scroll through more than one page of information on thescreen, thus increasing the time it takes to obtain specific informationfrom the display, since it is necessary to wait for the appropriate pageto be displayed.

In an attempt to overcome the above problems, and also to providedisplays that are capable of providing a wider variety of informationand a greater level of detail of information, there have been proposedelectronic displays that are interactive and allow a user to browsethrough a large amount of available information and to select theinformation that they wish to have displayed. These interactive displaysare particularly suited to providing tourist and/or consumer informationwhere the user may require specific information from a large amount ofdata regarding, for example, the surrounding environment, availableservices, times and places, etc.

For example, in a hotel it is desirable to have an interactive displayin the reception, the display containing information such as theavailability and location of hotel services (restaurant/pool/barlocations and opening times for example) and also information relatingto the area around the hotel and the resort in which it is located, suchas restaurants in the area, excursions that are available, car hirecompanies, hospitals and emergency rooms, etc. Visitors to the hotel areable browse through all of the information, for example by selecting atopic or group of data from a menu structure showing the available typesof information, and requesting to view more details on a particularentry.

Interaction with the display can be via any known method such as, forexample, using a keyboard or other buttons or keys provided on thedisplay, or by having a touch-sensitive screen, etc.

Such interactive display systems are useful for presenting a widevariety of information to a user and details regarding selectedinformation whilst the user interacts with the system. However problemsarise when the user wishes to refer to the selected information aftermoving away from the display.

For example, with the hotel example, if a user has selected informationon a restaurant and they wish to make a booking, they must memorize thenumber of the restaurant, or write the number down. This problem isexacerbated when the information the user has selected is more detailedthan simply a phone number. For example, if the user wishes to take awaydetails of how to get to the restaurant, or a sample menu etc., then itis impractical to memorize these details or to write them all down.Whilst it may be possible to alleviate these problems by providing aprinting device, this is not a satisfactory solution since the usercannot interact with the printed information if, for example, they wishto obtain further information that has not been printed. There exists,therefore, scope for improvement in providing information frominformation display devices and systems.

Thus according to a first broad aspect of the present invention there isprovided a method of providing information on an interactive informationdevice, the method comprising:

displaying on a display of an interactive information device informationselected from information for display stored in a memory of oraccessible to the interactive information device;

establishing a communications connection between the interactiveinformation device and a mobile communications device; and

transmitting data to the interactive information device from the mobilecommunications device and/or from the interactive information device tothe mobile communications device.

According to a second broad aspect of the present invention there isprovided a system for providing information, the system comprising:

an interactive information device comprising:

a memory for storing information selectable for display;

a display for displaying the particular information selected;

means for establishing a communications connection between theinteractive information device and a mobile communications device; and

means for transmitting data to the mobile communications device and/orfor receiving data from the mobile communications device.

The present invention provides a method of and system for selectingparticular information that it is desired to view on a display screen ofan interactive information device from data that is stored for displayon the device. A communications connection between the interactiveinformation device and a mobile communications device enables data to betransferred to the interactive information device from the mobilecommunications device and/or vice-versa.

Therefore, in preferred arrangements at least, data for example can betaken from the interactive information device and stored on the mobilecommunications device enabling the data to be taken away from theinteractive information device, and data can be communicated to theinteractive information device from the mobile communications deviceand, for example, stored in the memory of the interactive informationdevice for selecting for display on the display screen.

In this manner selected information is portable both to and from theinteractive information device and can be accessed, as set out below orin any other suitable manner, from the mobile communication device whenthe user is away from the interactive information device, and/or can beaccessed from either or both of the interactive information device andthe mobile communications device when the user is in, e.g., closeproximity to the interactive information device.

It should be noted that the mobile communications device can compriseany suitable portable device having means for communicating with anotherdevice. For example, in a particularly preferred embodiment, the mobilecommunications device comprises a cellular/mobile phone, a headset for aphone, such as a Bluetooth headset, a personal digital assistant (PDA),a BlackBerry handset or device, a laptop or other, preferably portable,personal computing device, or any other similar or appropriate device(and may, for example, be a combination of any of the above or otherportable communications devices).

The interactive information device can comprise any suitable devicehaving interaction means as discussed below and a display for presentinginformation. For example the interactive information device may compriseand preferably does comprise a totem having, for example at least onedisplay and means for enabling a user to interact with the totem displayor displays.

Preferably the interactive information device comprises a, preferablybuilt-in or integrated, memory, although in some embodiments the memorycould be external to the device, such as an external drive or on aserver remote from the device, or may comprise a memory card that isremovable from the device, etc.

The interactive information device comprises any suitable display means,and may for example comprise a cathode-ray tube or the like. In aparticularly preferred embodiment, the interactive information devicecomprises a flat-screen display, for example a plasma screen and/or aliquid crystal display (LCD) or the like.

The communications connection established between the interactiveinformation device and the mobile communications device can be anysuitable connection and may be direct, i.e. a communications connectionor link between the mobile communications device and the interactiveinformation device such as a cable therebetween or a direct wirelesslink etc., and/or may be indirect, i.e. a communications connection orlink between the interactive information device and one or moreintermediate devices and a communications connection between the mobilecommunications device and one or more of the intermediate devices, suchthat communications between the interactive information device and themobile communications device are carried out through the (one or more)intermediate device(s).

Each one of the communications connections of the present invention andits various embodiments, unless otherwise specified, can be wired and/orwireless using one or more appropriate communications protocols orwireless communications protocols, etc.

In a preferred embodiment, the step of establishing a communicationsconnection between the interactive information device and the mobilecommunications device comprises establishing a short-range wirelessconnection, such as a Bluetooth connection, an infrared connection, aWi-Fi connection, a Wibree connection, or the like. Preferably theshort-range wireless connection is effective for communications over adistance of up to about 100 metres, preferably over a distance of up toabout 50 metres, more preferably over a distance of up to about 10metres, and in some embodiments, preferably over a distance of a fewmetres, for example over about 2 to 3 metres, or preferably less than 2metres or more preferably between about a few centimetres to about 1metre.

Having a wireless communication range of up to 100 metres isadvantageous in that it allows, for example, multiple informationdevices to be interconnected by wireless connection, and/or multiplemobile communications devices to be connected to one or more informationdevices, but such a broad range may increase the likelihood of one ormore interference signals interfering with communications.

Having a wireless communications range that is much smaller, for exampleless than about 10 metres, reduces the likelihood of interference butenables fewer devices to connect together.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, a short-range wirelessconnection is established between the mobile communications device andthe interactive information device, the range of the short-rangeconnection being of the order of a few centimetres to a few metres, e.g.about 10 centimetres to about 1 or 2 metres, thus enabling the devicesto communicate with a reduced risk of interference when the mobilecommunications device is close to the interactive information device.

This is particularly advantageous for certain embodiments describedbelow, wherein information is displayed on the interactive informationdevice automatically in response to communication between theinteractive information device and the mobile communications device,since if the wireless communication were much wider ranging, then othermobile communications devices in the wider area could undesirably affectthe information displayed. This will be further discussed below inrelation to the appropriate embodiments.

As set out above, the method of providing information on an interactiveinformation device comprises, inter alia, selecting particularinformation from data stored in a memory of the interactive informationdevice for display. Any suitable means for enabling selection ofinformation for display can be provided at the interactive informationdevice. For example a keyboard and/or a mouse could be provided at theinteractive information device.

Therefore in a preferred embodiment, the method or system of providinginformation further comprises the step of or means for providing aninput means at the interactive information device for user operationthereof. For example, the input means may comprise keys or buttonsprovided on the interactive information device itself. However if thedisplay screen of the interactive information device is large and/or ifa large amount of information is displayed on the display screen,navigation and selection of the desired information can be awkward andtime consuming.

Therefore in a preferred embodiment at least the input means comprisestouch-sensitive means of and/or associated with the display screen. Inthis manner, the user can select information from the display screensimply by pressing the touch-sensitive means associated with theinformation.

Preferably the step of selecting the particular information furthercomprises operating the input means to select the particular informationfrom the data stored in the memory of the interactive informationdevice. In this way, the selected information is then displayed by thedisplay screen as the particular information.

Alternative or additional means of interacting with an interactiveinformation device include any, some or all of the following: voicecommand control of the interactive information device, providing aremote device to control the interactive information device, using amobile communications device as a or the remote control, etc.

After a user has selected particular information for viewing and theparticular information has been displayed on the display screen of theinteractive information device, the user may wish to retain theinformation. The user could, for example, memorize the informationand/or could write down the information, which may be appropriate forsmall amounts of information, such as a single address or telephonenumber for example. It is not however particularly appropriate when theinformation is more detailed, more complex, and/or contains images orthe like.

Therefore in a particularly preferred embodiment the method and systemof providing information further comprises the steps of or means for:

prompting the mobile communications device to permit transmission of atleast a subset of the particular information selected and displayed onthe display screen;

determining whether a response is received from the mobilecommunications device;

transmitting the subset of the particular information to the mobilecommunications device when a positive response is received; and

storing in the memory of the mobile communications device the subset ofthe particular information.

Therefore an advantageous method of retaining at least a part of theinformation displayed on the display screen of the interactiveinformation device is provided. Once the information has been downloadedas described and stored on the mobile communications device, it can beaccessed in a manner of different ways to provide the information to theuser.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the method of providinginformation further comprises displaying on a display means of themobile communications device the subset of the particular information,or at least a part thereof.

Therefore the user of the mobile communications device can view theinformation displayed on the screen whilst still present at theinteractive information device and/or after leaving the location of theinteractive information device. In the latter case, the user can use theinformation displayed on the mobile communications device and does notneed to memorize the information even if it is required at a later timeand/or in a different location.

In the preferred embodiment wherein at least part of the data istransmitted from the interactive information device to the mobilecommunications device for storage and/or display thereon, the data issent in any suitable format. For example, the data can be sent in itscurrent form, or in a compressed or otherwise compact form, or it can beformatted to resize the information to be displayed on a smaller screen(since typically the display on the mobile communications device will besmaller than the display screen of the interactive information device),and/or it can be reshaped to a different aspect ratio (e.g. changed from16:9 format to a 4:3 ratio, or other preferred ratio, and vice versa).

However, merely resizing and/or reformatting the information in this orany other standard manner often provides only a generic image that isnot particularly appropriate for display on all mobile communicationsdevices. Furthermore, it may not be appropriate to display all of theinformation transmitted to the mobile communications device at the sametime, as the mobile communications device display may be too smalland/or have insufficient resolution to adequately reproduce theinformation, or to reproduce it such that it is readable and/orviewable.

Therefore it may be desired to display only some of the information, orto display some or all of the information at different times, or ondifferent pages presented on the display for selection, or to displaythe information arranged in a menu structure with further informationselectable via the appropriate menu, etc.

In a preferred embodiment therefore the method or system of providinginformation further comprises the step of or means for configuring,prior to transmission to the mobile communications device, the subset ofthe particular information for compatibility with the display means ofthe mobile communications device.

This is particularly advantageous because the information can beconfigured to be displayed appropriately on the mobile communicationsdevice based on, for example, the model number and/or manufacturer ofthe phone and/or any other suitable device identification data. This canbe achieved in a number of ways, for example by the interactiveinformation device requesting device identification data from the mobilecommunications device and/or by the mobile communications deviceautomatically sending its relevant device identification data to theinteractive information device, for example when the communicationsconnection between the devices is established.

Once the interactive information device has the required identificationdata, the subset of the particular information can be configured forcompatibility with the now determined type of mobile communicationsdevice, for example by reference to a configuration profile for such adevice stored in the interactive information device memory, or stored inand retrieved from the mobile communications device, or by execution ofan appropriate configuration application, etc. A further discussion ofmethods and devices for identifying a mobile communications device thatcan be used for the preferred embodiments of the present invention isdisclosed, for example, in WO 2066/084927.

By configuring the information as set out above the displayedinformation can be sized and shaped to fit the mobile communicationsdisplay, data that may clutter or obscure the data to be displayed canbe removed, fonts and/or images, etc., can be enlarged if appropriate,and/or any other suitable modification or configuration of the data canbe carried out.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the information to be displayedon the mobile communications device is reconfigured to be presented asone or more menus, the menus being browseable via one or more inputmeans of the mobile communications device, such that all the desireddata can be displayed on the mobile communications device but as or viaa set of menus and sub-menus etc. to avoid displaying an over-crowded,confusing and/or otherwise unreadable display.

Therefore in a preferred embodiment, the subset of the particularinformation displayed on the display means of the mobile communicationsdevice comprises an interactive menu structure providing a plurality ofoptions.

The menu structure presented to the user of the mobile communicationsdevice allows the user to select further information to be displayed onthe display of the device as desired. The further information may becontained in the subset of data stored in the memory of the mobilecommunications device. However, the amount of data storable in thememory of the mobile communications device, and therefore the amount offurther information available for selection by the user, is limited bythe size of the memory. Typically such mobile communications deviceshave a relatively small storage capacity, necessitated by physical size,cost, power and operational considerations and therefore the amount ofdata storage is limited. This can be a particular disadvantage when itis desired to provide multimedia information to the user, since imagesand more particularly streaming media such as videos can easily exceedthe relatively small capacity of a mobile communications device memory.

Therefore in a particularly preferred embodiment the method or system ofproviding information further comprises the steps of or means for:

in response to user selection of an option from the interactive menustructure, determining whether further information regarding theselected option is contained in the subset of the particular informationstored in the memory of the mobile communications device; and

if it is determined that further information regarding the selectedoption is contained in the subset of the particular information storedin the memory of the mobile communications device, retrieving anddisplaying the further information on the display means of the mobilecommunications device; or

if it is determined that further information regarding the selectedoption is not contained in the subset of the particular informationstored in the memory of the mobile communications device, displaying amessage.

Preferably the message is displayed on the display means of the mobilecommunications device and/or on the interactive information device.

Preferably the message comprises a prompt requesting input from the userof the mobile communications device in order to display the furtherinformation regarding the selected option.

More preferably the method or system further comprises the steps of ormeans for:

retrieving the further information regarding the selected option fromthe memory of the interactive information device when a positiveresponse to the message is detected; and

displaying the retrieved information on the display screen of theinteractive information device and/or on the display means of the mobilecommunications device.

In this manner, some data files, for example those that are large, thatthe user may wish to view can be stored in the memory of the interactiveinformation device, thereby avoiding issues with the potentiallyrelatively small capacity of the mobile communications device memory.However when the user of the mobile communications device wishes to viewthe data files, as indicated for example by selecting the desiredinformation, or a link thereto, the menu structure provides a prompt atthe mobile communications device and/or at the interactive informationdevice. The prompt, for example, asks the user if they wish to downloadthe further information that they wish to view from the interactiveinformation device.

If the user is still within communication range of the interactiveinformation device, and if the user responds positively to the prompt,i.e. if the user indicates that they do wish to retrieve and viewfurther information from the interactive information device, then thismessage is relayed to the interactive information device and theinformation to be viewed is either displayed on the interactiveinformation device and/or the information is transmitted to the mobilecommunications device and displayed on the display thereof, asappropriate. In this manner, the user of the mobile communicationsdevice has access to a far greater range of information, including largedata files such as multimedia information and the like, than couldnormally be viewed on the display of the mobile communications devicewhich may for example have a relatively low capacity memory comparedwith the interactive information device.

As set out above, a user can interact with the interactive informationdevice and can select and view desired information on the interactiveinformation device and/or on the mobile communications device. Themobile communications device can store at least some of the informationfor viewing after the communications connection with the interactiveinformation device is no longer established, for example because theuser has moved out of the communications range of the interactiveinformation device.

This is particularly advantageous because the user can download to themobile communications device detailed information such as, for example,directions to a place of interest, detailed information about the placeof interest (e.g. for a restaurant, this could be the menu, openingtimes, contact details, reviews, nearby bars and accommodation, etc.)and this information can be taken away by the user and referred to at alater time, for example if the information comprises details of how toreach a venue, the map can be displayed on the display of the mobilecommunications device as the user navigates their way to the venue.

A further example of an advantageous use of this system is where theinteractive information device comprises an information display in, forexample, a shopping centre/mall or other large commercial premises.

When a user enters the shopping mall wishing to purchase a particularproduct, but does not know which shops stock the product required orwhere those shops are located, then the user can interact with theinformation display to select a product of interest and informationrelated to that product (e.g. shops that sell the product, a mapthereto, details of a particular product for sale in a particular shop,etc.).

This information and/or further information that, for example, theinformation display determines might be of interest, is transmitted to amobile communications device of the user for accessing and/or viewingthereon at the appropriate time.

When the user reaches the shop of interest, in order to facilitatepurchase of the particular product, it is desirable to be able to showthe information to the shop assistant relating to the particularproduct.

However, as set out above, the amount of information storable on themobile communications device may be limited by memory size andfurthermore the display on the mobile communications device isrelatively small, and so the information required to identify theproduct may not be not stored on the mobile communications device, oreven if it is stored thereon, when reproduced on the display of themobile communications device it may be too small, too complex and/or toounclear to adequately confer the required information to the shopassistant.

Therefore in a particularly preferred embodiment, the method or systemof providing information further comprises the step of or means for:providing a further information device and preferably the further stepof or means for storing in a memory of or accessible to the furtherinformation device data comprising at least a portion of the data storedin the memory of the interactive information device.

This is particularly advantageous as the further information device canbe placed at a suitable location such that, for example, the mobilecommunications device can interact with the further information devicewhen out of the communications range of the first interactiveinformation device.

By having at least a portion of the data stored in the memory of theinteractive information device also stored in the memory of the furtherinformation device, the user can access the information that they havealready selected as being of interest by interaction with the furtherinformation device. In the shopping mall example, the furtherinformation device could be located, for example, in one or more shopsin the mall. This is advantageous because the user can find theinformation they require by interaction with the interactive informationdevice which is typically placed at a central, convenient location inthe mall, and then can recall the information by interaction with thefurther information device in the shop having the product the user mightwish to purchase.

However, in the above example or indeed in any other application of theembodiments of the present invention, the user may find it isinconvenient to repeat the actions carried out to find the informationof interest, and/or the user may not be able to recreate the informationexactly as desired.

For example in the shopping mall example, the user may forget whichoptions they navigated through to find the data of interest, and/or thefurther information device may not contain all the options and/orinformation that the interactive information device contains, andtherefore they cannot find the information for which they are searching.

Therefore in a preferred embodiment, the method of or system forproviding information further comprises the steps of or means for:

prompting the mobile communications device to permit transmission ofimage data thereto; and

storing the image data in the memory of the mobile communications deviceif a positive response is received.

This is advantageous because any interaction between the interactiveinformation device and the mobile communications device may result in animage or the like being displayed on the display screen of theinteractive information device and, for example, the image can beremembered (also preferably with details of the interactions thatoccurred to select the image to be displayed if desired) and stored asimage data, that the interactive information device offers to the mobilecommunications device.

As set out below, if the mobile communications device allows the data tobe transmitted thereto and to be stored in a memory thereof, the data isthen taken with the mobile communications device and can be used, ifdesired, to more readily interact with other information devices.

Preferably the step of or means for prompting the mobile communicationsdevice to permit transmission of the image data further comprisesprompting the mobile communications device at a predetermined time.

Therefore the interactive information device prompts the mobilecommunications device to store the image data when appropriate, forexample at regular, time-based intervals and/or after each image isdisplayed on the display screen of the interactive information device,etc.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the step of or means forprompting the mobile communications device to permit transmission of theimage data comprises prompting the mobile communications device topermit transmission of the image data in response to transmission of asignal from the mobile communications device to the interactiveinformation device indicating that communication therebetween is to beterminated.

This is advantageous because, if the user indicates that they are aboutto leave the communication area of the interactive information device,the interactive information device offers to send image data to themobile communications device that the user might wish to take with them.

The image data comprises any suitable information, and preferablycomprises at least text data and may further comprise images, streamingmedia such as videos, etc. It is particularly preferred for the imagedata to relate to the particularly information that the user selected toview on the display screen of the interactive information device, sincethis is an indication of the type of information that the user requiresat this time. However, as set out above, the mobile communicationsdevice may have a limited memory capacity and so it may be desirable toavoid sending all of the data viewed on the interactive informationdevice to the mobile communications device.

Therefore in a preferred embodiment, the image data comprises dataidentifying the particular information displayed on the display screenof the interactive information device. The image data may comprise someof the specific images viewed on the display screen of the interactiveinformation device or it may not, but preferably the data at leastcomprises means for identifying the specific images that were displayed.

In this manner, when the mobile communications device returns to theinteractive information device and interacts again with the device,and/or when the mobile communications device interacts with the furtherinformation device, the image data stored in the mobile communicationsdevice can provide the information device with either the images to beviewed, and/or more preferably with pointers/bookmarks indicating theparticular and/or type of information that should be displayed to theuser of the mobile communications device. This provides rapid and easyinteraction with the appropriate information device without the userbeing required to perform the same navigation steps at each informationdevice.

As set out above, the image data comprises any suitable data relating tothe specific images displayed on the display screen of the interactiveinformation device. For example, the image data comprises parts of theimage displayed, or data related to or pointing to the image displayed,etc.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the image data comprises datarepresenting the image displayed on the display screen of theinteractive information device at the time of transmission of the imagedata to the mobile communications device. This is advantageous becauseit is very likely that the last screen viewed by the user prior to, forexample, ceasing interaction with the interactive information device,will show the information for which the user was specifically searching.

Therefore having image data stored on the mobile communications devicethat represents the last screen viewed allows the mobile communicationsdevice to display either the same image data (i.e. to display on thedisplay of the mobile communications device the images of interest) or amodified version of the information so that the display on the mobilecommunications device is readable and/or not too complex.

Furthermore having image data stored on the mobile communications devicethat represents the last screen viewed allows the mobile communicationsdevice to provide to the next information device with which the userinteracts details of, and/or a pointer to data representing, the lastscreen viewed.

Thus, as will be appreciated from the above in a particularly preferredembodiment data can be sent from the mobile communications device to aninformation device to inform the information device of a user's previousinteractions with an information device (which may be the same oranother information device), such as, as discussed above, identifyingthe last screen viewed by the user. This will then allow, e.g., a usereasily to be returned to their previous interaction when they approach anew information device or the same information device again.

Preferably therefore the method of or system for providing informationfurther comprises the step of establishing a communications connectionbetween the mobile communications device and the same or a furtherinformation device, when the mobile communications device is within acommunication range of the information device, and transmitting the data(e.g. image data) stored on the mobile communications device from aninteraction with an information device to the further etc., informationdevice.

This advantageously allows information relating, e.g., to the screendisplayed by the user on an interactive information device to be relayedto a further information device, such that the user's preferences inthis regard are stored on and/or can be used by the further informationdevice.

Preferably the method of or system for providing information furthercomprises the steps of or means for:

identifying and retrieving appropriate data from the memory of aninformation device in response to receiving stored data (e.g. imagedata) from the mobile communications device.

In these arrangements, where the stored data is image data, the step ofor means for identifying and retrieving appropriate data preferablycomprises:

when the image data comprises data identifying the particularinformation displayed on the display screen of the interactiveinformation device, retrieving appropriate images and/or otherinformation related to the particular information displayed on thedisplay screen of the interactive information device; and

when the image data comprises data representing the image displayed onthe display screen of the interactive information device at the time oftransmission of the image data to the mobile communications device,retrieving the same image; and

displaying the retrieved images and/or other information on a display ofthe further information device.

This arrangement will allow, for example, the further information deviceto retrieve from its memory and to display images that either relate tothe information displayed on the display screen of the interactiveinformation device and/or are the same as the last screen displayed onthe interactive information device. The images are displayed without theuser being required to navigate through options of the furtherinformation device.

This is particularly advantageous because it allows the user to seeagain on the further information device the information that they havepreviously selected, and/or to see any information related thereto thatmay be of interest, without all the information needing to be stored onthe limited capacity memory of the mobile communications device, sincethe further information device contains at least some of the informationin its memory. Therefore all that is required to be stored on the mobilecommunications device is information identifying, for examplebookmarking or otherwise pointing to, the information to be displayed onthe further information device, and the information itself can beretrieved from the, typically much larger capacity memory of the furtherinformation device.

Thus, in a particularly preferred embodiment, the present inventioncomprises transmitting from the interactive information device to themobile communications device data identifying information to bedisplayed on an interactive information device, and, most preferably,the mobile communications device then transmitting that data to a,preferably different, information device.

In the shopping mall example, e.g., when the user is in a shop selling aproduct which the user wishes to purchase, the image data stored on themobile phone can be transmitted to the information device in the shop,and the information device can display exactly the same information aswas originally displayed on the display screen of the interactiveinformation device (by retrieving the appropriate information from itsown memory, using the pointer/bookmark sent to it from the mobile phone)and/or other images or information relating to the product.

For example the image data stored on the mobile communications devicemay simply comprise a product code and transmitting the product codefrom the mobile communications device to the shop information devicecauses an image of the product, as well as for example the number ofthat product in stock, the price, etc., to be displayed on the shopinformation device. This enables the shop assistant to readily identifythe product that the user is interested in viewing without either partyneeding to navigate through any initial displays and without anyconfusion as to the product in question.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, interaction of the mobilecommunications device with the further information device causes thefurther information device to automatically display the last screen theuser viewed on the interactive information device. For example, thefurther information device may automatically establish communicationswith the mobile communications device when the mobile communicationsdevice is within the communications range of the further informationdevice, and automatically receive the image data and automaticallydisplay the desired information in response thereto.

In the above embodiments where interaction occurs between the mobilecommunications device and the further information device, it may bedesirable for further interaction between these two devices to occur.For example, the further information device may contain in its memorymore information about the particular information selected by the userthan was contained in the memory of the interactive information device.

In the shopping mall example, the shop information device may, forexample, contain more product details than the mall interactiveinformation device, and may also contain more details of relatedproducts, offers etc., that might be of interest to the user. In suchcases, the further information device could simply display the furtherinformation on the display for the user to view. However, the user maynot wish to view the further information at that time.

Therefore in a particularly preferred embodiment the method of or systemfor providing information further comprises the step of or means for:transmitting data from the further information device to the mobilecommunications device, the data at least relating to the images and/orinformation displayed on the display of the further information device.

In this manner the user is able to view the information at theirleisure, for example at a later time or at a different location, sincethe information can be taken away for viewing on the mobilecommunications device and/or on a further information device as and whendesired.

For example, the user may have their own information device at theirresidence, such as an interactive television display or a computer,laptop or the like, to which the information can be transferred at theappropriate time.

Once the user has viewed the information on the interactive informationdevice and/or the further information device there may be otherdesirable transactions that can be executed. For example, if theinformation displayed identifies a product and/or service, as is likelyin the shopping mall example, and if the user wishes to purchase ororder the product and/or service, then in preferred embodiments thepurchase transaction can be carried out as a transaction between themobile communications device and the respective information device.

In a preferred embodiment therefore, the method of or system forproviding information further comprises the steps of or means for:

establishing a transaction communication between the mobilecommunications device and an interactive information device (e.g. atleast one of the interactive information device and a furtherinformation device); and

performing a transaction associated with the particular informationdisplayed on the display screen of the interactive information device(e.g. with the images and/or information displayed on the display of thefurther information device).

Preferably the steps of or means for establishing the transactioncommunication and performing the transaction comprise operating awireless connectivity application on each of the devices of thetransaction communication.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the wireless connectivityapplication is a near field communication (NFC) application or the like.

In this manner the user of the mobile communications device can securelypurchase a product, service or the like, using the mobile communicationsdevice without requiring cash, credit or debit cards or other form ofpayment.

In this embodiment, further information can be transmitted from theinformation device performing the interaction in response to thepurchase if desired. In the shopping mall example, the purchaser of theproduct could be sent promotional offers, details of other purchases,details of future stock that the shop will sell, or any other marketinginformation, etc.

As mentioned above, it is entirely within the scope of the presentinvention for the mobile communications device to additionally oralternatively carry out transactions as set out above with theinteractive information device. In the shopping mall example, the usercould for example complete the transaction with the interactiveinformation device before visiting the shop and the image data displayedon the shop information device could take the form of an electronicreceipt informing the shop assistant of the product the user haspurchased, so that the product can be collected by the user.

The above disclosed embodiments relate to preferred methods ofinteraction between a mobile communications device and an interactiveinformation device, as well as, preferably, a further informationdevice. Other embodiments are contemplated in addition to or as analternative to the above preferred embodiments.

In one preferred embodiment, the method of or system for providinginformation further comprises the step of or means for: establishingcommunications connections between the interactive information deviceand a plurality of further information display devices.

The interactive information device can be placed at any suitablelocation and the further information devices can be placed in anylocation in relation to the interactive information device asappropriate. For example the interactive information device could begenerally centrally located amongst the further information devices.

In a shopping mall arrangement for example, the interactive informationdevice could be located at the entrance to the mall, and/or in thecentre of the mall, etc. Of course, two or more interactive informationdevices could be used in any embodiment of the invention described inthis application. In the mall, the further information devices could belocated in, for example, individual shops, in one or more food halls, inan associated car park, etc.

Whilst in accordance with the present invention a mobile communicationsdevice can interact with the interactive information device and/or withone or more of the further information devices, it is also advantageousin some embodiments for the interactive information device additionallyto be able to communicate with at least one, preferably at least some,and preferably all of the further information devices.

Therefore in a preferred embodiment the method of or system forproviding information further comprises the step of or means for:establishing a communications connection between the interactiveinformation device and at least one of, and preferably each of, thefurther information display devices. This enables information, data,etc. to be transferred between the devices without the aid of a mobilecommunications device.

Preferably at least some, and more preferably all, or substantially all,of the further information devices are connected together.

Preferably therefore the method of or system for providing informationfurther comprises the step of or means for establishing a communicationsconnection between each of the further information display devices andat least one of the other further information display devices, andpreferably all of the further information devices.

In this manner, data, information, etc., can be transferred to each ofthe information devices in the network.

The information devices can be connected together for communication inany suitable manner. In a preferred embodiment the devices are connectedtogether by one or more wireless connections. More preferably they areconnected together via cables or other suitable communications means(e.g. fibre optic links, Ethernet cables, etc.).

Preferably therefore the step of establishing a communicationsconnection comprises connecting the devices via cables or other suitablecommunications links. Wired connections between the information devicesare particularly preferred because they are less prone to interference,they are generally more secure and generally provide greater rates ofdata transfer etc.

Although it is preferable for the information devices to be connectedtogether by cables, wires or the like, they can instead be connectedtogether by wireless means (or some may be connected by wired means andsome by wireless means). Furthermore, connection between the interactiveinformation device and a mobile communications device could also bewired or via other suitable physical means, for example by having adocking port on the interactive information device for receiving acorresponding connector of the mobile communications device.

However, such physical connection between the interactive informationdevice and the mobile communications device may not be desirable, sincesuch connections are generally proprietary for each model and/ormanufacturer of mobile communications devices and in some embodiments, acable is required to establish the connection, which the user of themobile communications device is unlikely to carry with them.

Therefore it is preferable for the connection between the interactiveinformation device and a mobile communications device to be wireless.

Therefore in a preferred embodiment the step of establishing acommunications connection comprises establishing a short-range wirelessconnection, such as a Bluetooth connection, an infrared connection, aWi-Fi connection, a Wibree connection, or the like.

As set out in the above embodiments, particular information can beselected and displayed on a display screen of the interactiveinformation device. As further set out, it may be desirable for thatsame information and/or related information to be displayed on one ormore of the further information devices. This can be achieved in anumber of ways, some of which are set out above.

In a further or additional preferred embodiment the method of or systemfor providing information further comprises the step of or means for:

in response to an instruction from at least one of the interactiveinformation device and the mobile communications device, transmitting toat least one of the further information display devices at least one of:

the particular information displayed on the interactive informationdevice; and

data related to the particular information displayed,

and preferably transmitting both.

As set out above, this can be achieved by transmitting the informationand/or data via the mobile communications device.

In a further or additional preferred embodiment this can be achieved bytransmitting the information and/or data via one or more of thecommunications connections between the interactive information deviceand the further information device(s), e.g. preferably by sending theinformation and/or data via the wired links. This is advantageousbecause the data can be displayed on any one of the further informationdevices by controlling the interactive information device.

For example the “main” interactive information device can be a masterdevice that controls one or more further slave information devices. Thisis particularly advantageous where at least one, some or all of thefurther information devices might be “dumb” terminals that either do nothave input means for inputting data, commands for selecting information,etc. and/or do not have communications means for communicating with anydevices other than the interactive information device. For example thedumb terminals may not have the capability to interact with a mobilecommunications device. Such dumb terminals are advantageous in systemsin which it is, for example, desirable to have reduced complexity and/orcosts.

Of course, this embodiment is equally applicable to systems in which atleast one, some or all of the further information devices are not dumb,i.e. have some other form of communication and/or input.

The information and/or data sent to the further information device maycontain all the data necessary to reproduce the information to bedisplayed on the further information device.

However this may require a significant portion of the availablebandwidth for such transmissions, particularly in the case of largedocuments, images or other media. In, for example, a large system overwhich many transmissions are made, often at least partiallyconsecutively, this may not be desirable.

In a preferred embodiment, the method of or system for providinginformation further comprises the steps of or means for:

storing in a memory of the further information display device at least aportion of the data stored in the memory of the interactive informationdevice;

in response to receiving the particular information displayed on theinteractive information device, displaying the particular information onthe further information display device; and

in response to receiving data related to the particular informationdisplayed, displaying the received data on the further informationdisplay device and/or retrieving from the memory device of the furtherinformation display device the particular information and displaying theparticular information on the further information display device.

Therefore in a preferred embodiment, if the further information devicealready contains some of the data and/or information it is desired todisplay, this information and/or data can be retrieved from a memory ofthe further information device instead of being transmitted to thefurther information device. This embodiment is similar to theembodiments discussed above in relation to transmitting partial data(e.g. transmitting pointers, bookmarks etc.) and the above discussion isequally applicable for use with this embodiment.

As discussed in the present application, information either previouslyselected for viewing and/or related to information previously viewed canbe repeatedly viewed on one or more further information devices in amanner of ways.

However the embodiments of the present invention are not restricted todisplaying only the above described information and/or data and in aparticularly preferred embodiment the information displayed to the useron any of the further information devices (and/or indeed on the one ormore interactive information devices) can be modified, reduced and/orenhanced in some way.

This is particularly advantageous in the present embodiment in which aninteractive information device is coupled, e.g., by cables or the like,to further information devices which are also connected to each other,although of course this preferred method could equally be applied in anyof the aforementioned embodiments as appropriate and the followingdescription is intended to also be applicable thereto.

In a preferred embodiment therefore the method of or system forproviding information further comprises the step of or means for:modifying, reducing and/or enhancing the information in response to atleast one control parameter prior to displaying the information on thefurther information display device.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the control parameter comprisesany, some or all of:

location-based information, time of day information, day of weekinformation, user preference, past user selections and/or navigations,user bookmarks, etc., although other parameters etc., for example as areknown in the art can also or instead be used.

This arrangement is particularly advantageous because the informationdisplayed on any of the information devices can be customised based on,for example, preferences of the user, which are determined, for example,in response to the interaction between the mobile communications deviceand the interactive information device (and possibly interactionsbetween the mobile communications device and any one or more of thefurther information devices).

Furthermore the way in which the information is displayed can bespecifically configured for the user. For example when the informationis displayed, how much is displayed, what options, information, data,are presented to the user, etc. can be chosen based on for example theuser's preferences, the time of day or the day(s) of the week that theyusually interact with the interactive information device and/or thefurther information devices, the type of information that they use mostfrequently, etc.

Another control parameter comprises information such as where the userand/or the information devices are located. The master interactiveinformation device can control the slave further information devices,even if these information devices are dumb terminals, to displaycustomised information to the user as and when the user requires suchinformation, by controlling the interactive information device (eithervia its input(s) and/or via the mobile communications device and/orautomatically based on the user's preferences, location etc.) such thatit controls one or more of the further information devices as, when andwhere appropriate.

In a preferred embodiment therefore the method of or means for providinginformation further comprises the steps of or means for:

determining user information and preference data in response tointeractions between the mobile communications device and theinteractive information device and/or any of the further informationdisplay devices; and

using the user information and preference data as at least one of thecontrol parameters for modifying, reducing and/or enhancing theinformation prior to display.

Display of the information on the further information devices can occurautomatically in response to a request to do so from the interactiveinformation device and/or from the mobile communications device.

Additionally or alternatively, an input means may be provided at thefurther information device to cause the device to display theinformation.

Preferably therefore the method of or system for providing informationfurther comprises the steps of or means for:

providing a user input on at least one of the further informationdisplay devices; and

in response to user operation of the input, selecting and displayinginformation on the display screen of the interactive information deviceand/or on the, and/or on any one of, the further information displaydevices.

In accordance with a further broad aspect of the present invention,there is provided a method of or system for providing information on aninteractive information device, the method or system comprising steps ofor means for:

storing in a memory of the interactive information device datacomprising information selectable for display;

selecting particular information from the data stored in the memory;

displaying on a display screen of the interactive information device theparticular information selected;

establishing a communications connection between the interactiveinformation device and a mobile communications device, the mobilecommunications device comprising a memory;

transmitting data to the interactive information device from the mobilecommunications device and/or from the interactive information device tothe mobile communications device;

establishing communications connections between the interactiveinformation device and a plurality of further information displaydevices; and

causing information to be displayed on at least one of the furtherinformation devices.

Preferably, as set out above, the interactive information device is amaster device for controlling each of the slave further informationdevices and selected and/or enhanced or otherwise modified or configuredinformation is displayed on one or more of the slave devices by controlfrom the master device.

In particularly preferred embodiments, different information isdisplayed on different ones of the slave devices, preferably based on auser profile or the like.

As discussed above, the further information devices may be dumbterminals intended to display what they are instructed to display by theinteractive information device. However, one or more of the furtherinformation devices may have means for enabling further devices,particularly though not exclusively mobile communications devices, tointeract therewith. The further information devices may also have inputmeans thereon for direct user interaction therewith.

In a preferred embodiment of the method of or system for providinginformation comprises the steps of or means for:

determining user information and preference data in response tointeractions between the mobile communications device and theinteractive information device, the user information comprisingidentification data identifying the particular mobile communicationsdevice;

storing the user information and preference data in the memory of theinteractive information device; and

transmitting to at least one of the further information display devicesand storing in a memory thereof the user information and preferencedata.

Therefore the further information device not only contains means forconfiguring the information and/or data to be displayed to the user, butalso contains means, i.e. the identification data, for identifying theparticular mobile communications device of interest.

Preferably the information and preference data further comprises any,some, or all, of:

the number of selections made by the mobile communications device;

the type of selections made by the mobile communications device;

the frequency and/or speed of the selections made by the mobilecommunications device;

the type and/or amount of particular information selected for display bythe mobile communications device; and

the time of day and/or the day of the week of the interaction betweenthe mobile communications device and the interactive information device.

Therefore in the embodiment where at least one of the furtherinformation devices is not a dumb terminal, and where the preferencedata and the information identifying the particular mobilecommunications device are stored in the further communications device,then any interaction between the mobile communications device and thefurther information device can be customised based on the relevantpreference data when the further information device identifies theparticular mobile communications device.

For example, in a preferred embodiment, the method of or system forproviding information further comprises the steps of or means for:

detecting the presence of a mobile communications device within thecommunications range of at least one of the further information displaydevices;

when the presence of a mobile communications device is detected,comparing the identification data stored in the memory of the furtherinformation display device with identification data transmitted by thepresent mobile communications device; and

if the identification data are coincident, identifying the presentmobile communications device as the particular mobile communicationsdevice.

This advantageous arrangement allows the further information device todetect when a mobile communications device, and therefore the usercarrying the mobile communications device, is near to the furtherinformation device, and customised information can be displayed to theuser based on the preference data that the further information devicehas been sent by the interactive information device.

Therefore in a preferred embodiment the method of or system forproviding information further comprises the step of or means for:displaying appropriate information on the further information displaydevice in response to identification of the present mobilecommunications device as the particular mobile communications device.

If the further information device has any, some, or all of the functionsof an interactive information device, e.g. if the further informationdevice is browseable for further information in the manner set forth inany of the aforementioned embodiments, then the information presented tothe user for browsing, selection and/or display can be customised basedon the user profile stored in the further information device.

Preferably the user profile stored in the further information device isupdatable based on the interactions of the mobile communications devicewith the further information device. Furthermore the updated userprofile is preferably transmitted from the further information device tothe interactive information device (for storage therein and/or fortransmission therefrom to further information devices) and/or to furtherinformation devices, such that the most up-to-date user profile is usedby each information device.

As discussed above, the further information device displays appropriateinformation when the presence of a particular mobile communicationsdevice is detected in the vicinity of the further information device.

In a preferred embodiment, the appropriate information comprises theparticular information displayed on the display screen of theinteractive information device. Thus the user is presented with the sameinformation they previously requested as they approach the furtherinformation device.

This is advantageous in that the user can refer again to the informationif they so wish, and/or the information can be automatically displayedto another party (e.g. a shop assistant in a shopping mall).

This can be achieved if desired without it being necessary for anyinformation to be stored on the mobile communications device in theembodiments where the information is transmitted to the furtherinformation device via a communication connection with the interactiveinformation device.

Alternatively or additionally the appropriate information displayed is amodified, reduced and/or enhanced version of the particular informationdisplayed on the display screen of the interactive information device.

Therefore in a preferred embodiment, the method of or system forproviding information as further comprises the step of or means for:

displaying on the interactive information display device and/or on thefurther information display devices, modified, reduced and/or enhancedinformation wherein the step of or means for displaying the appropriateinformation further comprises:

modifying, reducing and/or enhancing the appropriate information basedon the user information and preference data stored in the furtherinformation display device; and

displaying the modified, reduced and/or enhanced information on theinteractive information display device and/or on the further informationdisplay device.

As set out above, the information displayed to the user when inproximity with a further information device is preferably customisedbased on a profile of the user.

In addition to the abovementioned profile data, and/or any other userdata that may be determined by any suitable means in the art, in apreferred embodiment, the method of or system for providing informationfurther comprises the steps of or means for:

determining the geographical location of the mobile communicationsdevice;

storing the geographical location of the mobile communications device asat least part of the user information;

further determining the geographical location of the mobilecommunications device when the device is relocated; and

updating the stored geographical location of the mobile communicationsdevice.

In this manner the position of the mobile communications device can beused to at least partially determine what information is presented tothe user as the user approaches a further information device.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the step of or means fordisplaying the appropriate information further comprises the steps of ormeans for:

modifying or further modifying, reducing or further reducing and/orenhancing or further enhancing the appropriate information based any oneof:

the present geographical location of the mobile communications device;

at least one previous location of the mobile communications device;

a series of geographical locations of the mobile communications device;and

a chronological history of the geographical locations of the mobilecommunications device.

This arrangement is particularly advantageous because the interactiveinformation display device and the further information devices can beused to determine: where the user is presently located (in the shoppingmall example, this is useful as, for example, the information displayedto the user can be customised based on the products the user prefers andthe shops near to the user that sells those products), where the userhas been (in the shopping mall example, this is useful as, for example,because the system can determine which shops the user has been to,preferably how long the user spent in each area, and the informationdisplayed to the user can be customised based on the shops the uservisited and/or in which the user spent the greatest length of time),and/or the number of locations where the user has been and in what orderthe user visited those locations (in the shopping mall example, this isuseful as, for example, the information presented to the user can beconfigured based on the route the user has taken so, for example, theshops that the user is approaching and that the user might wish to visitaccording to the profile could be displayed, etc.).

Preferably the means for determining the location of the mobilecommunications device comprises one or more GPS devices, and morepreferably the GPS devices are used in conjunction with means forestimating the location of the mobile communications device based on thedetection of one or more wireless communications systems. For example,greater precision of position can be attained using the aforementionedknown wireless technologies, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.

In addition to, or as an alternative to, the user profile being used toconfigure the information that is displayed, the user profileinformation can be used by any of the information devices to configurethe interaction between the mobile communications device and theinformation device.

For example, as a user approaches an information device and is presentedwith customised information, the user may wish to further select datatherefrom and the user profile may be used to determine what options arereadily presented to the user. For example, if the user typicallynavigates using visual indicators (e.g. if the user likes to select,e.g., the products to be viewed by selecting an image of the type ofproduct) then the data presented to the user preferably comprisesappropriate visual indicators.

If however the user prefers to navigate using text-based searches, theuser is instead presented, for example, with a virtual keyboard, perhapssome keywords that the user typically uses, etc.

Furthermore, options that the user generally does not use may beprevented from being displayed in order to present an uncluttereddisplay with which the user can readily and rapidly interact. Thisarrangement is particularly preferred when the information device has aninput means such as a touch-sensitive display or the like, since themost appropriate options for selection can be located at the mostappropriate touch-sensitive regions, for example.

The above embodiments are directed to the interaction of a mobilecommunications with an interactive information device and preferablywith one or more further information devices, the further informationdevices typically at least comprising a display and means forcommunicating with either the interactive information device or themobile communications device.

However in some embodiments of the invention, it is not necessary forthe further information devices to comprise a display and, for example,any information stored at the further information devices may beconfigured to be transmitted to other devices for display.

Furthermore the further information devices in these embodiments needonly have means for communicating with, for example, a single device,which need not necessarily be the interactive information device.

Preferably such further information devices are placed at a locationremote from the interactive information device.

In a such preferred embodiment the method of or system for providinginformation further comprises the step of or means for: providing atleast one device having data stored in a memory thereof and, in onepreferred embodiment, these devices have no direct means ofcommunication with the interactive information device. They preferablyalso or instead do not themselves have a display.

These arrangements would allow the use of devices that can be simple,small and have a low power consumption and so are relatively low cost.In preferred embodiments a large number of such, preferably “remote”,more limited devices can be and preferably are employed for any suitablepurpose, for example, such devices could be used as information “tags”that can be associated with a particular product, service or the likeand can store information regarding that product or service in thememory thereof.

Preferably such more limited information tag devices function as datastorage devices containing any desired information and in a particularlypreferred embodiment are capable of transmitting that data at least to amobile communications device that comes within communication range ofthe tag device.

Therefore in a preferred embodiment, the method of or system forproviding information further comprises the steps of or means for:

detecting the presence of a mobile communications device within thecommunications range of an information device; and

transmitting data to the detected mobile communications device inresponse to detection thereof.

Therefore data from such a more limited information tag device can besent to, and preferably stored on, a mobile communications device whenthe mobile communications device approaches the tag device. Thisarrangement has many useful applications such as, for example, as anavigation aid (as a user passes successive such tag devices for examplethey can be given directions to the next tag device), or as aninformation tool, such as for example to inform a user of a mobilecommunications device of the operating times of a service, the openingtimes of a shop, restaurant, etc., the services available from aparticular source, etc.

In a preferred embodiment, the step of or means for transmitting data tothe mobile communications device further comprises steps of or meansfor:

associating the tag device with a product, service and/or other means;and

transmitting data to the detected mobile communications device, whereinthe transmitted data comprises information relating to the product,service and/or other means with which the tag device is associated.

Preferably the method or system further comprises including in thetransmitted data at least an indication of the product, service and/orother means. This arrangement is particularly advantageous because auser can discover more information about a product, service and/or meanssimply by approaching the product, service and/or means and reviewingthe data sent to their mobile communications device by the associatedinformation tag device.

In particularly preferred embodiments, the tag devices are small andpreferably configured such that they can be readily concealed and/or areunobtrusive in use. For example, in the product tag embodiment, wherefor example the product is, say, clothing, the tag is preferablysufficiently small and unobtrusive such that it can be associated withthe clothing without preventing the clothing from being worn, or fromhanging correctly, etc.

Although the above embodiments may provide information to a mobilecommunications device, as set out previously, the memory capacity ofsuch mobile communications devices can be somewhat limited andfurthermore the size and resolution of a typical mobile communicationsdevice display may not be suited to displaying a large amount of data,or complex data, or data such as images and video or the like.

Therefore in a particularly preferred embodiment, the data sent to themobile communications device by the more limited tag device istransmitted from the mobile communications device to the interactiveinformation device for display. In this manner, the information storedon the perhaps “remote” tag device can be viewed on the interactiveinformation device without the “remote” tag device communicatingdirectly with the interactive information device. Therefore the powerconsumption of the “remote” tag device can be minimised as only veryshort-range communication is needed between the “remote” tag device andthe mobile communications device.

This is further advantageous because, in arrangements in which severalmore limited tag devices are located in close proximity to each other,if they were each required to communicate directly with the interactiveinformation device then they might interfere with each others'communication with the interactive information device.

Still further, in this embodiment, data is only transmitted to theinteractive information device and displayed thereon when a usercarrying the mobile communications device approaches the more limitedtag device and therefore the information displayed on the interactiveinformation device is selected according to the preference of the user.

This embodiment is particularly useful for the shopping mall example,since, for example, a more limited information tag device could beassociated with each item and/or type of clothing and as the userapproaches the item, information relating thereto, such as price,available colours and sizes, other clothing and/or accessories suitableto wear with that item, etc., could be displayed on the interactiveinformation device.

As set out above, the information to be sent to the mobilecommunications device from the more limited tag device, and preferablyto be further transmitted to the interactive information device, may bethe information that is to be displayed to the user via the mobilecommunications device and/or the interactive information device.

It is believed that such an arrangement for transmitting information toan information device, preferably an interactive information device, maybe new and advantageous in its own right.

Therefore in accordance with a further broad aspect of the presentinvention there is provided a method of providing information using aninformation device, the method comprising:

a tag device detecting the presence of a mobile communications device;

transmitting data stored in the tag device to the mobile communicationsdevice in response to the detection;

transmitting at least some of the data, received from the tag device,from the mobile communications device to an information device; and

displaying on a display of the information device information relatingto the transmitted data received from the mobile communications device.

Preferably the information device comprises an interactive informationdevice, for example a touch-screen display as discussed in relation toprevious embodiments. This is advantageous because, for example, thisenables the person that possesses the mobile communications device tointeract with the information displayed on the information device.

In accordance with another broad aspect of the present invention thereis provided a system for providing information using an informationdevice, the system comprising:

an information device; and

a tag device comprising:

-   -   means for detecting the presence of a mobile communications        device; and    -   means for transmitting data stored in the tag device to the        mobile communications device in response to the detection;

the information device comprising:

-   -   means for receiving from the mobile communications device at        least some of the data transmitted by the tag device to the        mobile communications device; and    -   a display for displaying information relating to the data        received from the mobile communications device.

As above, it is particularly preferred that the information devicecomprises an interactive information device in accordance with thevarious disclosures of the present application.

In a preferred embodiment, the system further comprises a mobilecommunications device comprising means for receiving data from the tagdevice and means for transmitting at least some of the data to the(interactive) information device.

The above preferred features disclosed in relation to all the aspectsand embodiments of the present invention are also intended to beapplicable to these further broad aspects of the present invention,where appropriate and compatible.

Although the information to be sent to the mobile communications devicefrom the more limited tag device, and preferably in some aspects andembodiments to be further transmitted to the interactive informationdevice, may be the information that is to be displayed to the user viathe mobile communications device and/or the interactive informationdevice, in some embodiments it is preferred that the more limitedinformation tag devices are as compact as possible, and have low powerconsumption. One way to achieve these requirements is for the morelimited tag device, like the mobile communications device, to have arelatively low capacity memory.

Therefore in some preferred embodiments the amount of data stored on themore limited information tag device may be limited.

Therefore in a preferred embodiment the step of or means fortransmitting data to the detected mobile communications device from themore limited information tag device preferably comprises the morelimited tag device preferably transmitting only some form of identifierfor the data that is to be displayed, rather than the data itself. Mostpreferably it further comprises steps of or means for:

configuring the data to be automatically transmitted from the mobilecommunications device to the interactive information device; and

configuring the data to cause selection of the particular information tobe displayed from the memory of the interactive information device andto cause display of the particular information on the display screen ofthe interactive information device, the particular informationcomprising further details relating to the product, service and/or meanswith which the more limited tag device is associated.

Therefore if the more limited tag device has limited memory, furtherinformation, and indeed related or otherwise associated information, canbe retrieved as appropriate from the memory of the interactiveinformation device to supplement the information provided to the user.

In the above embodiments of the more limited information tag devicearrangement, the more limited information tag device does notcommunicate with the interactive information device directly. Althoughthis has many advantages as set out above, it also means that the morelimited information tag device is reliant upon communication via themobile communications device.

Thus, in another preferred embodiment, data can be communicated directlyfrom the more limited tag information device to the interactiveinformation device. This may be advantageous in some environments. Suchcommunication could be as well as communication between the more limitedinformation tag devices and the mobile communications device, butpreferably is instead of the more limited information tag devicetransmitting the information to the mobile communications device.

In such an arrangement, the step of or means for establishing acommunications connection between the interactive information device andthe mobile communications device would then comprise:

establishing a connection between the mobile communications device andan intermediate device (the more limited information tag device); and

establishing a connection between the intermediate device and theinteractive information device.

In this manner the mobile communications device would indirectlycommunicate with the interactive information device. This may beadvantageous, for example, when the mobile communications device islocated outside the communication range of the interactive informationdevice but within the communication range of the more limitedinformation tag device.

In a preferred embodiment, the step of or means for establishingcommunications further comprises steps of or means for:

the more limited information tag device detecting the presence of themobile communications device within the communications range of the morelimited information device;

in response to the detection, establishing communications with both thedetected mobile communications device and the interactive informationdevice; and

the method of or means for providing information further comprising thestep of or means for transmitting data from the more limited informationtag device to the interactive information device.

Therefore when the mobile communications device approaches a morelimited information tag device, information is transmitted from that tagdevice to the interactive information device once the presence of themobile communications device is detected by the more limited informationtag device.

The more limited information tag device can detect the presence of themobile communications device in any suitable manner. Preferably the tagdevice continuously scans for the presence of mobile communicationsdevices in proximity to the tag. Once the presence of a mobilecommunications device is detected, for example by the tag devicereceiving data that is automatically transmitted or broadcast from themobile communications device, the more limited information tag devicepreferably transmits this detection to the interactive informationdevice. Preferably the tag also sends an identifier associated with themore limited information tag device to the interactive informationdevice, as well as preferably also a mobile communications deviceidentifier (which, e.g., may be received as part of the automatictransmission from the mobile communications device).

In the above example, it is not necessary for full, bi-directionalcommunications to be established between the more limited informationtag device and the mobile communications device, since the more limitedinformation tag device can identify and use the identifier, etc.,information that is broadcast by the mobile communications device innormal operation, without the need to establish a bi-directionalcommunications link for this purpose. In other words the more limitedinformation tag device can simply receive the automatic transmissionfrom the mobile communications device without requiring fullcommunication with the mobile communications device since it is notnecessary in all embodiments for data to be sent in the other direction,i.e. from the tag to the mobile communications device. This can beadvantageous because the detection and transmission of the identifierdata to the interactive information device can therefore be rapid, as itis not delayed by waiting for a bi-directional communications connectionto first be established between the more limited information tag deviceand the mobile communications device.

Preferably the connection between the more limited information tagdevice and the interactive information device is high-speed and is notsubject to interference with or from the interaction between the mobilecommunications device and the more limited information tag device.

Preferably therefore a wired connection is provided between the morelimited information tag device and the interactive information device.However it may be more desirable that the more limited information tagdevice is substantially free of wires or cables, and in this embodimentthe more limited information tag device preferably communicates with theinteractive information device wirelessly, preferably using a differentchannel and/or frequency to any interaction or communications channelthat may exist between the mobile communications device and the tagdevice.

As set out above, the more limited information tag device is preferablyassociated with a service, product or other means, and informationrelating to the service, product or other means with which the morelimited information tag device is associated, most preferably at leastan indication of the product, service and/or other means, is transmittedto the interactive information device.

Furthermore in a preferred embodiment the step of or means fortransmitting data to the detected mobile communications device furthercomprises steps of or means for:

configuring the data to be automatically transmitted from theintermediate device to the interactive information device in response todetection of the mobile communications device; and

configuring the data to cause the selection and display of theparticular information on the display screen of the interactiveinformation device, the particular information comprising furtherdetails relating to the product, service and/or means with which the tagdevice is associated.

The above arrangement of the tag device communicating information storedthereon to an information device, preferably an interactive informationdevice in accordance with any of the above embodiments, when the tagdevice detects the presence of a mobile communications device is thoughtto be advantageous and new in its own right.

Therefore in accordance with a further broad aspect of the presentinvention, there is provided a method of providing information using aninformation device, the method comprising:

a tag device detecting the presence of a mobile communications device;

transmitting data stored in the tag device to an information device inresponse to the detection; and

displaying on a display of the information device information relatingto the transmitted data received from the tag device.

Preferably the information device comprises an interactive informationdevice, for example a touch-screen display as discussed in relation toprevious embodiments. This is advantageous because, for example, thisenables the person that possesses the mobile communications device tointeract with the information displayed on the information device.

The information can be displayed on the information device, for example,automatically in response to detection of the presence of a mobilecommunications device and transmission of data to the informationdevice. However in some embodiments, the information is not displayed onthe information device until a certain event or action occurs. Forexample, the information may be displayed based on a timed event, forexample after a predetermined length of time has elapsed. Alternativelyor additionally, the information may be displayed, for example, upon arequest from the mobile communications device and/or in response to, forexample, detection by the information device of the presence of themobile communications device in close proximity with the informationdevice. This is particularly advantageous because, for example, theinformation can be displayed to the user of the mobile communicationsdevice only when the user is sufficiently close to the informationdevice to be able to view the information that is displayed. In apreferred embodiment, data can be transmitted from more than one tag tothe information device and the information relating to the data fromeach tag can, for example, be offered for display on the informationdevice concurrently, consecutively, on demand, etc.

As discussed above, in a particularly preferred embodiment identifierdata identifying the mobile communications device can be sent from thetag to the information device. This is particularly advantageous in oneof the present embodiments, wherein the information device displays theinformation when the presence of the mobile communications device in thevicinity of the information device is detected, because the identifiercan be used, for example, to identify the particular mobilecommunications device, as well as, or alternatively, for configuring theinformation displayed, based, for example, on the user's preferencesetc. as set out in the present application.

In accordance with a still further broad aspect of the presentinvention, there is provided a system for providing information using aninformation device, the system comprising:

an information device;

a tag device comprising means for detecting the presence of a mobilecommunications device;

means for transmitting data stored in the tag device to an informationdevice in response to detection by the detection means; and

means for displaying on the display of the information deviceinformation relating to the transmitted data received from the tagdevice.

Preferably the information device comprises an interactive informationdevice as set out in relation to the aspects and embodiments of thepresent invention disclosed in the present application. Preferablyinformation is displayed on an information/interactive informationdevice, in response to a predetermined event or occurrence, as discussedabove. For example in a particularly preferred embodiment, informationis displayed on the information/interactive information device inresponse to detection of the presence of a mobile communications devicein the vicinity of the information/interactive information device, asdiscussed above in relation to the previous aspects and embodiments.

The above preferred features disclosed in relation to all the aspectsand embodiments of the present invention are also intended to beapplicable to these further broad aspects of the present invention,where appropriate and compatible.

In all of the above aspects and embodiments, references tocommunications connections between devices are intended to cover knowncommunications connections and, for example, references to wirelessand/or short-range wireless connections include any suitable connectionsfor transmission of data etc. as discussed above. Furthermore in any ofthe above systems or methods, it should be noted that any devices maycommunicate using a particular protocol and it is not necessary forother communications in the same method or system to communicate usingthe same protocol. For example, a mobile communications device maywirelessly connect to an information device using, for example, a Wi-Fiprotocol, and a remote device may connect wirelessly to the mobilecommunications device using a different protocol, e.g. Bluetooth.

Still further, references to data, information, etc., being stored in amemory of a device are not intended to be limiting to a memory that isan integral part of the device. For example, references to a memory of adevice, or storage of data/information in a device, etc., are intendedto cover memory means that are a part of, and/or are associated with,the device in any appropriate manner. For example, a memory may beexternal to a particular device and may have a, for example, wired orwireless connection to the particular device. The memory may, forexample, comprises a server, that can, for example, be remote from thedevice that accesses data and/or information stored on the server, etc.

Still further, references to data stored in memory and/or device areintended, in preferred embodiments at least, to further comprise thestep of storing the data in the memory and/or device as appropriate. Forexample, in the first broad aspect of the present invention, in apreferred embodiment the method further comprises the step of storingdata in a memory of or accessible to the interactive information device.Of course, this step of storing may additionally or alternatively applyto any data, information, etc. referred to as stored in the presentapplication, as appropriate.

Furthermore references to the user interacting with the interactiveinformation device and/or with the further information devices, wheresuch interaction comprises; for example, selecting data via atouch-sensitive display, are not intended to be limiting and other suchselections can be made in any other known manner such as by voiceinteraction, via a remote control device or the like. It is particularpreferred that selection of data on the interactive display device, e.g.browsing menus, selecting options etc., or indeed any other form ofinteraction with the interactive information device, could be, andindeed preferably is, carried out by using the mobile communicationsdevice as a remote browsing device, the selections etc., being made ofthe communications channel established therebetween.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, all of the aspectsand embodiments of the invention described herein can and preferably doinclude any one or more or all of the preferred and optional features ofthe invention described herein, as appropriate.

The methods in accordance with the present invention may be implementedat least partially using software, e.g. computer programs. It will thusbe seen that when viewed from further aspects the present inventionprovides computer software specifically adapted to carry out the methodsherein described when installed on data processing means, a computerprogram element comprising computer software code portions forperforming the methods herein described when the program element is runon data processing means, and a computer program comprising code meansadapted to perform all the steps of a method or of the methods hereindescribed when the program is run on a data processing system.

The invention also extends to a computer software carrier comprisingsuch software which when used to operate a personal communicationssystem or hands free device comprising data processing means causes inconjunction with said data processing means said system or device tocarry out the steps of a method or of the method of the presentinvention.

Such a computer software carrier could be a physical storage medium suchas a ROM chip, CD ROM or disk, or could be a signal such as anelectronic signal over wires, an optical signal or a radio signal suchas to a satellite or the like.

It will further be appreciated that not all steps of the method of theinvention need be carried out by computer software and thus from afurther broad aspect the present invention provides computer softwareand such software installed on a computer software carrier for carryingout at least one of the steps of the methods set out herein.

The present invention may accordingly suitably be embodied as a computerprogram product for use with a computer system. Such an implementationmay comprise a series of computer readable instructions either fixed ona tangible medium, such as a computer readable medium, for example,diskette, CD ROM, ROM, or hard disk, or transmittable to a computersystem, via a modem or other interface device, over either a tangiblemedium, including but not limited to optical or analogue communicationslines, or intangibly using wireless techniques, including but notlimited to microwave, infrared or other transmission techniques. Theseries of computer readable instructions embodies all or part of thefunctionality previously described herein.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that such computer readableinstructions can be written in a number of programming languages for usewith many computer architectures or operating systems. Further, suchinstructions may be stored using any memory technology, present orfuture, including but not limited to, semiconductor, magnetic, oroptical, or transmitted using any communications technology, present orfuture, including but not limited to optical, infrared, or microwave. Itis contemplated that such a computer program product may be distributedas a removable medium with accompanying printed or electronicdocumentation, for example, shrink wrapped software, pre loaded with acomputer system, for example, on a system ROM or fixed disk, ordistributed from a server or electronic bulletin board over a network,for example, the Internet or World Wide Web.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, these aspects andembodiments of the invention can, and preferably do, include any one ormore or all of the preferred and optional features of the inventiondescribed herein, as appropriate. Thus for example any preferred oroptional feature described herein can be, and preferably is, combinedwith any, some or all of the above-described embodiments of the methodof providing information and/or of the interactive information system.

A number of preferred embodiments of the present invention will now bedescribed by way of example only and with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIGS. 1(a) to 1(e) show schematically a method of providing informationon an interactive information device in accordance with embodiments ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 shows schematically a method of controlling an interactiveinformation device using a mobile communications device in accordancewith embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows schematically another method of controlling a plurality ofinformation devices using a mobile communications device in accordancewith embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 4 shows schematically a system by which information devicesinteract with a mobile communications device to provide information onan interactive information device in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 5 shows schematically a similar system to the FIG. 4 system, whichoperates in an alternative manner and by which information devicesinteract with a mobile communications device to provide information onan interactive information device in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIGS. 1(a) to 1(e) show schematically a method of and a system forproviding information on an interactive information device 2. Theinteractive information device 2 is an interactive information provider2 that, in this particular example, is located in a shoppingcentre/mall/area or other similar commercial premises.

As can be seen in FIG. 1(a), the interactive information provider 2 hasa screen 3, which in this embodiment is an interactive touch-activatedscreen 3, such as a plasma or LCD display. However it is envisaged thatany other or alternative method of interaction with information 4 shownon the screen could be employed, for example voice interaction/speechrecognition means, interaction via a remote device (which in certainpreferred embodiments comprises a mobile communications device such as amobile phone, PDA, BlackBerry device etc. as discussed below),interaction via an input device, such as keys on the interactiveinformation provider 2 and/or provided on a separate keyboard, a mouseor trackball or other pointer, etc. associated with the interactiveinformation provider 2, etc.

In a default mode in this embodiment, the screen 3 of the interactiveinformation provider 2 has displayed thereon a number of differentoptions 4, 6, 8, 10 that are available for selection. For example, inthis embodiment the options that are selectable (by interaction with thescreen 3 for example) comprise several different categories 4 ofpremises within the mall, an option 6 enabling further pages of optionsto be displayed on the screen 3, a keyword search input 8 and anassociated input 10 for enabling a virtual keyboard to be displayed (notshown) on the screen 3 to enable input of keywords for searching forparticular information, products, services, shops or the like.

When a user, e.g. a shopper, enters the shopping mall and wishes topurchase a particular product, the shopper is able to search forrelevant information, such as which shops stock the particular productand/or where those shops are located, etc., by interacting with theinteractive information provider 2 as follows.

If, for example, the shopper wishes to buy a pair of shoes, the shopperselects the appropriate category from those offered on the screen 3. Inthis example the user should select the clothing option 12.

If however the shopper, for example, cannot find an appropriate option,and/or if the shopper is unsure as to which category the requiredproduct falls within, an appropriate option may alternatively besearched for by viewing other screens (e.g. by activating the next pageoption 6), and/or by performing a keyword search for “shoes” (using, forexample, the search input 8 and the virtual keyboard option 10).

When the shopper requests further information regarding clothing byactivating the appropriate option 12, further appropriate sub-categoriesmay be provided to the shopper for selection from the screen 3.

For example, in this embodiment the subsequent information displayed onthe screen for selection could be categories of clothing such as tops(jackets, jumpers, shirts, t-shirts, blouses etc.), bottoms (trousers,skirts, shorts, etc.), footwear (boots, shoes, sandals, slippers, etc.),accessories, etc.

The shopper wishing to purchase a pair of shoes can then select thefootwear option, followed by the shoes option, perhaps followed by aformal or informal/casual option, and then followed for example by amen's or women's articles option.

In this example the shopper wishes to purchase men's casual shoes andindicates in the manner set out above that further information isrequired in this category.

The interactive information provider 2 in response to this interactionwith the shopper displays on the screen 3, for example, a map of theshopping mall showing the location of any shops selling men's casualshoes.

In preferred embodiments, whilst the shopper considers the informationshown on the screen 3, the interactive information provider 2 furtherpresents on the screen 3 an option asking if the shopper wishes todownload the information shown. Furthermore, if there is additionalinformation stored in the interactive information provider 2 relating tomen's casual shoes, for example regarding the products sold by one (ormore) of the shops, and/or promotional offers that one (or more) of theshops is currently running, etc., the shopper may also be offered thisfurther information for download.

The interactive information provider 2 is capable of transmitting datato any of a wide range of different devices, for example to a mobilephone, a laptop, a PDA or other handheld personal device such as aBlackBerry unit, etc., using any appropriate communications technology,such as wireless communications (using any suitable protocol such as,for example, Bluetooth, infrared, Wi-Fi, Wibree, DVB-H/DBV-H (digitalvideo broadcasting handheld), NFC, ZigBee, etc.) and/or physicalconnections such as for example a USB connection, an Ethernetconnection, or other wired connections, or by docking the portabledevice onto an appropriate docking connection provided at theinteractive information provider 2, etc.).

If the shopper owns any appropriate mobile communications device, e.g.in this embodiment the shopper is carrying a mobile phone 20 (as shownin FIGS. 1(b) to 1(e)) that has a Bluetooth module, and wishes to havethe information offered by the interactive information provider 2transmitted to their device 20, then the shopper must positively respondto the offer (e.g. by selecting a download option on the screen 3,and/or by enabling Bluetooth on the mobile phone 20, and/or by placingthe mobile phone 20 within communications range of the interactiveinformation provider 2 (which for Bluetooth for example may beshort-range, such as for example a metre or less, or a few to about 10metres for example).

In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, the interactiveinformation provider 2 has associated therewith a “hot zone” which isindicated by, for example, an image of a phone or any other suitableindication of a zone where a mobile communications device 20 should belocated to receive transmissions.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the interactive informationprovider 2 displays an offer to the shopper on the screen 3 to sendinformation regarding men's casual shoes from a particular shop to theshopper's mobile phone 20.

When the phone 20 is placed near to the interactive information provider2 (i.e. within the transmission “hot spot”) a message or prompt isautomatically displayed on the display screen 22 of the shopper's mobile20 phone asking if the download should be activated and, for example,informing the shopper that no charge will be made for the transmission(or this information may alternatively or additionally be provided onthe screen 3 of the interactive information provider 2 for example).

If the shopper positively responds, i.e. indicates that they do wish toreceive the information regarding men's casual shoes from a particularshop, the information is transmitted from the interactive informationprovider 2 to the mobile phone 20.

In addition to transmitting information, the interactive informationprovider 2 may also transmit any further data necessary for the mobilephone 20 to be able to use the information sent thereto. For example,the interactive information provider 2 in a preferred embodimenttransmits an application that automatically executes on the mobile phone20 to display the information requested by the shopper.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the interaction between themobile phone 20 and the interactive information provider 2 providesinformation to the interactive information provider 2 about the type ofmobile phone 20. For example, the interactive information provider 2 candetermine the particular manufacturer of the mobile phone 20 and/or themodel of phone 20.

This enables the interactive information provider 2, in a particularlypreferred embodiment, to configure the information and/or applicationdata that is sent to the mobile phone 20 such that it is displayedand/or executed appropriately on the display 22 of the mobile phone 20and/or by the phone 20.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1(a) to 1(e), the information isconfigured to be sized appropriately and to contain a minimal amount oftext. Furthermore any text that is displayed is adequately sized so asto be clear and readily readable.

Once the information and/or the application has been transmitted to themobile phone 20 the shopper is able to browse through the informationdisplayed on the display 22 of the phone 20, for example to look for aparticular pair of shoes that they wish to try on, etc. If the shopperfinds a pair of shoes that they wish to know more details about, theyinteract with the mobile phone 20 to request more information.

At this stage, the shopper has viewed all the information about theshoes that was sent to the mobile phone 20. This is because theinteractive information provider 2 transmits only basic details to thephone 20 about the products that the shop of interest sells. This may bebecause (as is the case in this example) the interactive informationprovider 2 determined prior to transmitting the data that the mobilephone 20 has a small capacity memory, and therefore the interactiveinformation provider 2 determines that only a small data packet shouldbe transmitted to the mobile phone 20.

In alternative arrangements, the interactive information provider 2 isprogrammed to send only a limited amount of data to a mobilecommunications device by default, in order to avoid filling the memoryof any mobile communications device that has only a small capacity. Thiscan be achieved even without the need to determine the capacity of thememory of the device.

As there is no further information about the shoes that the shopperwishes to see stored in the mobile phone 20, the shopper is prompted todisplay any additional information on the interactive informationprovider 2. In the present embodiment, this is achieved by displaying aprompt 30 on the display 22 of the mobile phone 20 (as shown in FIG.1(b)). In alternative embodiments, the prompt could be displayedadditionally or alternatively on the screen 3 of the interactiveinformation provider 2.

If the shopper positively responds to the prompt 30, in this embodimentby pressing the “yes” or “✓” key 24, the additional information 14 isdisplayed on the screen 3 of the interactive information provider 2 asshown in FIG. 1(b). This is particularly advantageous because large datafiles can be stored on the large capacity memory of the interactiveinformation provider 2 and the additional information 14 can rapidly bedisplayed by retrieving the required data from the memory of theinteractive information provider 2.

In this embodiment, a large picture 14 of the product of interest istherefore displayed on the screen 3 of the interactive informationprovider 2 and further information (not shown) can also be provided,such as for example, the price of the shoes, in the available colours ofthe shoes, etc. In this embodiment it would not be possible to clearlydisplay all the information on the display 22 of the mobile phone 20 asthe screen size and resolution of the display 22 are limited comparedwith the screen 3 of the interactive information provider 2.

When the shopper has finished browsing for products on the mobile phone20 and/or on the interactive information provider 2, the shopper closesthe application running on the mobile phone 20 in preparation forleaving. Alternatively the shopper may simply walk away from theinteractive information provider 2, thereby removing the mobile phone 20from the transmission area or “hot spot”. Other means known in the artfor determining that the interaction is to cease may of course be usedinstead of, or in addition to, the methods disclosed herein.

As soon as the interactive information provider 2 determines that theshopper is finishing/about to finish interacting with the interactiveinformation provider 2, the shopper is prompted to make a finalinteraction with the interactive information provider 2.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the prompt comprises a messagethat appears on the screen 3 of the interactive information provider 2asking if the system is allowed to remember the shopper's preferencesand/or asking the shopper if they wish to receive information associatedwith the product(s) that they have viewed. Of course, in otherembodiments the prompt could, for example, be displayed on the screen 22of the mobile phone 20, or could be displayed both on the mobile phone20 and the interactive information provider 7.

If the shopper agrees to data regarding their interaction with theinteractive information provider 2 being stored (for example byactivating the “yes” key 24), then the interactive information provider2 stores appropriate data in its memory.

The data can include any of the information discussed above and in thisembodiment the data includes a list of the options selected by theshopper, the manufacturer and model of the shopper's mobile phone 20,and the last screen viewed by the shopper.

If the shopper agrees to receive information associated with the productthat they viewed, the interactive information provider 2 transmitsappropriate data (in an appropriate format) to the mobile phone 20 forstorage in the memory of the mobile phone 20. The data may, for example,include a basic image of the product 16 (as shown in FIG. 1(c)), detailsof the product viewed, or simply may comprise a bookmark or pointer tothe last screen viewed by the shopper, or any other appropriateinformation.

The shopper leaves the interactive information provider 2 and approachesthe shop that sells the shoes of interest.

When the shopper arrives in the shop, he needs to explain to the shopassistant which shoes he wishes to try on. The shopper can do this bydescribing the shoes, but this may not enable the shop assistant todiscern which of the many shoes they sell the shopper wishes to see. Theshopper could try to convey the information to the shop assistant byshowing the assistant the basic image of the shoes stored in the memoryof the mobile phone 20. This is only possible if the shopper allowed thedata to be transmitted to the phone 20 as they did in this embodiment.

However, a typical image, even a simplified/reduced one, can occupy asubstantial proportion of a typical memory in a mobile phone or otherportable device and therefore in some embodiments the shopper may nothave allowed the image to be downloaded. Even if the shop assistant canview the basic image, it may not convey enough information to identifythe particular shoes (particularly if, for example, the mobile phone 20only has a small display 22).

In the present embodiment there is provided in the shop a point of salesdevice or terminal, which contains details of the shop's stock, currentprices, promotions, etc., and also enables transactions to be carriedout, e.g. purchases, returns and exchanges etc.

The point of sales terminal 18 (which is shown in FIG. 1(d)) also has adisplay 36 for displaying information regarding transactions, products,etc., and at least one communications module (preferably the point ofsales terminal 18 has the same communications ability as the interactiveinformation provider 2, so that the terminal 18 can communicate with asmany different mobile communications devices in as many differentmanners as the interactive information provider 2).

In the present embodiment, the terminal 18 at least comprises aBluetooth communication module so that it can communicate with theshopper's mobile phone 20 (although it is, of course, within the scopeof the present invention for the terminal 18 to communication with theshopper's mobile phone 20 using a different technology and/or protocolto the technology and/or protocol that the interactive informationprovider 2 used to communicate with the mobile phone 20).

The shop assistant invites the shopper to approach the point of salesterminal 18 to bring the shopper's mobile phone 20 within thecommunications range of the terminal 18. In some embodiments, theinteractive information provider 2 is capable of direct communicationswith the terminal 18 and after the shopper terminated interactionbetween the interactive information provider 2 and their mobile phone20, the interactive information provider 2 automatically sent the storedpreference data regarding the shopper's interaction with the interactiveinformation provider 2 to the terminal 18. Alternatively thisinformation could be sent to the terminal 18 only when the terminal 18signals to the interactive information provider 2 that the mobile phone20 is in the vicinity of the terminal 18.

Therefore as soon as the shopper approaches the terminal 18 and theterminal detects the presence of the mobile phone 20 (either byestablishing a connection, e.g. a Bluetooth connection, with the phone20 and/or by any other suitable means such as simply detecting theparticular mobile phone 20 is near to the terminal without establishinga communications connection) the last information viewed by the shopperon the interactive information provider 2 is automatically displayed onthe display screen 36 of the terminal 18, thereby enabling the shopassistant to identify the exact pair of shoes the shopper wishes to tryon.

This is particularly advantageous because the user does not have torepeat all of the selection steps that they performed earlier with theinteractive information provider 2 in order to view the product ofinterest since the navigation steps are not required. In alternative oradditional embodiments, as shown in FIGS. 1 d and 1 e, the informationto be displayed on the display screen 36 of the terminal 18 may beprovided to the terminal 18 by the shopper's mobile phone 20.

In this embodiment it is not necessary for the terminal 18 to have anydirect communications with the interactive information provider 2(rather only indirect communication via the mobile phone 20 is needed).The shopper in this embodiment is prompted by a message 32 on thedisplay 22 of the mobile phone 20 to allow transmission of data from themobile phone 20 to the terminal 18 and, if the shopper agrees to thetransmission (by pressing the key 24 associated with a positive responseas shown in FIG. 1(e)) the data downloaded to the mobile phone 20 by theinteractive information provider 2 is forwarded to the terminal 18,thereby allowing the last page viewed by the shopper to be reproduced onthe display 36 of the terminal 18 and thus enabling the shop assistantto identify the exact pair of shoes the shopper wishes to try on.

The data transmitted to the terminal 18 (from the interactiveinformation provider 2 and/or from the mobile phone 20) of course maynot be an exact reproduction of the last screen viewed by the shopperand could, for example, cause the terminal 18 to display on its displayscreen 36 other information, such as for example other products viewedby the shopper, earlier screens viewed by the shopper rather than, or inaddition to the last screen viewed by the shopper, products related tothe products viewed by the shopper, products that might be worn with, oraccessories to the product viewed by the shopper, etc.).

Furthermore the data transmitted to the terminal 18 need not contain allthe data required to reproduce the image(s) of interest and can, forexample, contain only partial information that is sufficient to causethe terminal 18 to retrieve from its own memory the remaininginformation for display on the display screen 36 of the terminal 18.

For example, the data transmitted to the terminal 18 may simply comprisea bookmark or other pointer to a page stored in the memory of theterminal 18, etc.

Once the shopper has, for example, tried on the shoes, they may wish topurchase the product. In a particularly preferred embodiment this can beachieved via the, or a, communications connection between the mobilephone 20 and the point of sales terminal 18.

In the present embodiment, the product has already been identified bythe point of sales terminal 18 and to complete the purchase the shopperneed only enable a transaction to occur from their mobile phone 20. Thetransaction can occur in any suitable manner known in the art, forexample a Near Field Communication (NFC) application/transaction couldbe employed etc.

After the shopper has made a purchase, in a preferred embodiment, theterminal 18 then offers to the shopper further data for download to themobile phone 20.

For example, in a preferred embodiment, since the shopper has made apurchase, a voucher for a discount from further purchase could beoffered, and/or the shopper could be offered details of other productsfor sale, or for example details of next season's products/collectionetc.

As in the manner of previous transactions, it is preferable that theshopper is offered the option of whether to allow such a download (viathe terminal and/or via the display 22 of the mobile phone 20). If theshopper wishes to accept the download, this can be indicated by pressingthe acceptance key 24 or if the shopper does not wish to receive theadditional information, this can be indicated using a decline key 26.

Of course, any of the other keys 28 on the mobile phone 20 could be usedto indicate acceptance or otherwise of a download, or to indicate whichof numerous listed downloads they might wish to receive, etc. or otherinput means could alternatively or additionally be used, for examplesuch as voice interaction (via, for example, the speech recognitionmodule of the mobile phone 20 or of the terminal 18), or touch-screendisplay interaction (at the terminal 18 and/or of the display 22 of themobile phone 20), etc.

Furthermore the download need not be stored in the memory of the mobilephone 20 and could instead simply be streamed or sent directly from theterminal 18 to the mobile phone 20 and if the shopper wishes to retainthe download, they can transmit their acceptance to the download beingstored in the memory of the mobile phone 20 in the usual manner.

Furthermore it is clearly in accordance with alternative embodimentsthat there may be provided in the shop a dedicated or other display fordisplaying information transmitted thereto by the interactiveinformation provider 2 and/or by a shopper's mobile communicationsdevice that need not necessarily be a point of sale, and indeed it isenvisaged that a dedicated display having no other function than todisplay the above type of information could be provided in one or morelocations.

A further embodiment of the present invention will now be described withreference to FIG. 2. This embodiment can be used separately from or inconjunction with the embodiments discussed above in relation to FIGS.1(a) to 1(e).

As shown in FIG. 2, a mobile communications device such as a mobilephone 20 can be used with an interactive information device 2. In apreferred embodiment, the interactive information device 2 comprises atouch-sensitive plasma or LCD or other suitable display 2, for exampleas discussed in the previous embodiments.

The user of the mobile phone 20 can interact with the touch-sensitivedisplay 2, for example by selecting options offered for selection on thetouch-sensitive display 2 by touching the appropriate region of thedisplay 2.

However, the user can additionally or alternatively interact with thetouch-sensitive display 2 as shown in FIG. 2 using the mobile phone 20.

In FIG. 2(a), the touch-sensitive display 2 is showing “Display A”. Themobile phone 20 communicates with the touch-sensitive display 2 usingany suitable communications means (for example as discussed above). In aparticularly preferred embodiment, the mobile phone 20 communicateswirelessly with the touch-sensitive display 2 as shown in FIG. 2(b).

The interaction between the devices can, for example, be enabled byrunning a suitable application on the touch-sensitive display 2 and/oron the mobile phone 20. If the user of the mobile phone 20 wishes tochange the display of the touch-sensitive display 2, for example from“Display A” to “Display B”, the user can do so simply by selecting theappropriate option 40 as shown for example, on the display screen 22 ofthe mobile phone 20.

The display of the touch-sensitive display 2 is thus changed to “DisplayB” as requested (and as shown in FIG. 2(c)). Of course, additionalmethods of interacting with (and/or navigating about) thetouch-sensitive display 2 and/or with the mobile phone 20 are alsoenvisaged as within the scope of the invention, for example theinteraction could be via voice/speech recognition, using bookmarks orother pointers stored, for example, in the mobile phone, viewing thelast screen shown or other preferred displays etc.

A further embodiment of the present invention will now be described withreference to FIG. 3. This embodiment can be used separately from or inconjunction with the embodiments discussed above in relation to FIGS.1(a) to 1(e) and FIG. 2.

Indeed, in the particular embodiment described in relation to FIG. 3,the steps disclosed are carried out after the steps carried out by thesystem of FIG. 2, namely the mobile phone 20 in FIG. 3 has alreadyinteracted with the touch-sensitive display 2 such that “Display B” isshown on the screen 3 of touch-sensitive display 2.

As shown in FIG. 3, in a preferred embodiment there is provided at leastone, and in this embodiment, four, further information devices. Thefurther information devices in this embodiment are dumb terminals 48,i.e. the terminals 48 have no direct means of interaction and, forexample, although they may in a preferred embodiment be displays, theyare not touch-sensitive displays.

However in other preferred embodiments, one or more of the terminals 48may have further interaction means, such as, for example, atouch-sensitive display or other input means.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, each of the terminals 48 isconnected, in this embodiment via a cable (but in other embodiments thiscould be by any suitable means, wired or wireless), to at least oneother terminal 48. Terminals 48 i and iii are further connected viacables to the touch-sensitive display 2.

In other embodiments, other terminals 48 can be connected to thetouch-sensitive display 2 and/or any or all of the terminals 48 can beconnected to a second terminal 48 and even to further terminals) 48. Inthis manner a network is established wherein the touch-sensitive display2 can communicate with any one of the terminals 48, either directly orindirectly via another terminal 48.

In some embodiments, the touch-sensitive display 2 acts as a masterdevice and the terminals 48 act as slave devices. The mobile phone 20can be used, as discussed in relation to FIG. 2, to control theinformation displayed on the display screen 3 of the touch-sensitivedisplay 2 and, preferably, the touch-sensitive display 2 and/or themobile phone 20 can be used to further control the information displayedon one or more of the slave terminals 48. In a preferred embodiment, thetouch-sensitive display 2 can cause all of the terminals 48 to displaydesired information.

In the present embodiment as shown in FIG. 3, the mobile phone 20 hasset the touch-sensitive display 2 to show “Display B” and furthermorethe mobile phone 20 sends a command 42 to the touch-sensitive display 2to set the second terminal 48 (terminal ii) to also show “Display B”.

As shown in this embodiment the mobile phone 20 can interact with thetouch-sensitive display 2 to set the display of, for example, one of theterminals 48. However, in a further preferred embodiment (not shown) thetouch-sensitive display 2 controls what is displayed by each of theterminals 48.

The touch-sensitive display 2 decides what is to be displayed on eachterminal 48 in response to interactions between the touch-sensitivedisplay 2 and the mobile phone 20.

During these interactions, the touch-sensitive display 2 builds andstores a profile of the user of the mobile phone 20, storing informationsuch as they type or categories of information the user likes to view,how often the user views relevant information, time related informationsuch as at what times of the day/days of the week etc., the user tendsto view information, whether the user generally prefers visualinformation (images, videos etc.) and/or textual information, etc. Thisprofile is then used to determine what information is displayed to theuser on the touch-sensitive display 2 and furthermore is used toinstruct the other terminals 48 how data should be displayed to theuser.

For example, if the user generally tends to be in the vicinity ofterminal 48 iii at a particular time of day every working week day (forexample in a preferred embodiment, terminal 48 iii might be located neara cafeteria where the user goes for lunch) then at that time of day theterminal 48 iii may be controlled by touch-sensitive display 2 todisplay information that is within one of the categories of interest ofthe user (for example with regard to the shopper embodiment, it maydisplay information to the user regarding a shoe sale on at the shopfrom which the user recently purchased a pair of shoes or for exampleany special offers that the touch-sensitive display 2 determines theshopper might wish to see, etc.).

The master touch-sensitive display 2 can control any one of, some of orall of the terminals 48 to display particular information and to modifythe information according to any one or more parameters stored in theuser profile as determined by the touch-sensitive display 2.

It is further envisaged that the touch-sensitive display 2 can control,for example, one terminal 48 to display certain information and at leastone of the other terminals 48 to display different information, etc.

In a further embodiment, in addition to the displays of the terminals 48being determined by the touch-sensitive display 2, each terminal 48could additionally or alternatively be controllable by the mobile phone20 by interaction therewith.

In this case the terminals 48 are not “dumb” in that they must havemeans (e.g. a communication module, for example a Bluetooth module, ageneral packet radio service (GPRS) module or the like) forcommunicating with the mobile phone 20. The mobile phone 20 can interactwith any one of the terminals 48 in this embodiment to control, or tofurther control, what is displayed on any of the terminals 48 and indeedon the touch-sensitive display 2.

In a still further embodiment, the above network (and/or any othersuitable network) can be controlled by the touch-sensitive display 2and/or by the mobile phone 20 to determine how one or more interactiveinformation devices 2 (which can take the place of one or more of theterminals 48) interact with a user of the mobile phone 20.

For example, if terminal 48 iv is, say, also a touch-sensitive display,then in a preferred embodiment the touch-sensitive display 2 providesprofile data to the touch-sensitive display 48 iv, which is used tocontrol how the touch-sensitive display 48 iv interacts with the mobilephone 20. For example, the user of the mobile phone 20, upon approachingthe touch-sensitive display 48 iv, might be offered customised menus ofoptions for selection, and/or might be shown the last page displayed onthe touch-sensitive display 2 as a starting point for navigation etc.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the information offered to auser of a mobile phone 20 at any one or more of the terminals 48 isbased at least partially on the geographical location of the user at thepresent time and/or on previous geographical locations to which the userhas been, and/or the length of time spent at each location, and/or onthe route that the user is presently taking. For example, if theinformation displayed to the user is based on the route that the user istaking (determined by, for example, tracking the places that the mobilephone 20 has been detected in chronologically) then the informationdisplayed on the terminal 48 to which the user is closest could relatefor example, to shops that the user is about to reach and that sell theproducts that the user generally prefers.

The positional information regarding the user, and in particularregarding the user's mobile phone 20 or other mobile communicationsdevices, is preferably determined using one or more global positioningsystem (GPS) receivers or other suitable means and/or using the wirelessprotocols with which the devices interact.

The above embodiments relate to systems/networks having at least oneinteractive information provider and preferably one or more furtherinformation devices having a display. However in accordance with afurther embodiment of the present invention, the further informationdevices do not have a display and rather are simply devices havinginformation stored thereon.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the further information devicesare tags 50, as shown in FIG. 4, although of course references to tagsin relation to FIG. 4 are not intended to be exclusive and one or moreof the tags may be replaced by any other suitable information devicehaving data stored thereon.

As shown in FIG. 4, several tags 50 are provided. The tags 50 have nodirect means of communication with an interactive information provider2, which in this embodiment is again a touch-sensitive display 2 havinga memory containing detailed data regarding a variety of products,services, etc. In this particular embodiment, the touch-sensitivedisplay 2 is located in a clothing store.

The tags 50 cannot communicate with the touch-sensitive display 2directly because, for example, they are placed out of the communicationsrange of the touch-sensitive display 2, and/or they do not have asuitable module for communications with the touch-sensitive display 2,and/or because communication between each tag 50 and the touch-sensitivedisplay 2 is intentionally blocked, and/or for some other appropriatereason. Each tag 50 is associated with a product located in the clothingstore. Of course, for embodiments in which the touch-sensitive display 2and the tags 50 are not for use in a clothing store, the tags 50 areassociated with other appropriate means or the like. In the clothingstore example, there may be a tag 50 for example associated with eachset of products. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, Tag 2 is associatedwith a pair of shoes on a shelf in the store.

As a shopper carrying a mobile communications device (here again it is amobile phone 20, but any suitable device can be used with thisembodiment, as with all previous embodiments) approaches a product withwhich a tag 50 is associated (here, the shopper approaches the shoesassociated with Tag 2), the tag 50 detects the presence of the mobilephone 20 that the user is carrying. The detection of the mobile phone 20may be carried out in any suitable manner and in some embodiments, thedetection is carried out in conjunction with (or immediately before)establishing a, for example, wireless, e.g. Bluetooth, connectionbetween the tag 50 and the mobile phone 20. Alternatively in aparticularly preferred embodiment the detection is carried out by thetag 50 continuously scanning for mobile devices and retrieving from thephone 20 an identifier when the phone's presence is detected. This doesnot necessarily require a communications connection between the tag 50and the phone 20 to be established.

When the tag 50 detects the presence of the mobile phone 20 (and in someembodiments, establishes a connection with the phone 20), informationstored on the tag 50 is transmitted to the mobile phone 20. The mobilephone 20 then communicates with the touch-sensitive display 2 totransfer the information to the touch-sensitive display 2. In thismanner an indirect communication is made between the tag 50 and thetouch-sensitive display 2.

The information sent to the touch-sensitive display 2 can then beautomatically displayed on the screen 3 of the touch-sensitive display2. This is an advantageous arrangement because this allows the tags 50to be located within range of the touch-sensitive display 2 but withoutcausing the information of the tag 50 to be displayed on thetouch-sensitive display 2 unless a user is present and in closeproximity with the tag 50 of interest.

Therefore only information that is of interest to the user (indicated bythe user approaching the tag 50 associated with the item of interest) isdisplayed on the touch-sensitive display 2.

This is particularly advantageous, for example, in the shopping exampleas the user can approach a product in a shop and if the product has atag associated therewith (in the FIG. 4 embodiment, Tag 2 is associatedwith a pair of shoes) then information about that product can bedisplayed on the touch-sensitive display 2 by interaction via theshopper's mobile phone 20.

As shown in FIG. 4, in this embodiment, by approaching the shoes,information is automatically displayed on the touch-sensitive display 2showing, for example, an image of the shoes 52 (so that the shopper canbe confident that the information relates to the product in which theshopper is interested), the price of the product and the sizes that theshop has in stock (if the shopper's size is not available, they need notwaste time approaching a shop assistant in an attempt to try on theproduct).

The data stored on the tag 50, and therefore the data transferred viathe mobile phone 20 to the touch-sensitive display 2, should he of arelatively small size because not only is it highly desirable for thedata transfer to be rapid (and it is well known that large documenttransfers obviously take longer than smaller document transfers over thesame communications connection) but also because it may be necessary atleast temporarily to store the data on the mobile phone 20, andtherefore it is undesirable to fill the memory of the mobile phone 20,and indeed may result in failure of the inventive method if there isinsufficient capacity in the memory of the mobile phone to carry out thetransfer.

Furthermore it may be necessary to install an application in the mobilephone 20 to carry out the transfer and therefore it is further desirableto minimise any further storage requirements for successful transfer ofthe data.

Therefore in a particularly preferred embodiment, the data stored on thetags 50 need not contain all the information for display on thetouch-sensitive display 2 and instead the data may comprise a pointer orbookmark to data stored on the touch-sensitive display 2. In thismanner, the data that is transmitted to the touch-sensitive display 2via the mobile phone 20 causes the touch-sensitive display 2 to retrievethe relevant information to be displayed from a memory therein fordisplay on the screen 3 of the touch-sensitive display 2.

In the above embodiment, the data stored in the tag 50 causes relevantinformation to be displayed on the touch-sensitive display 2 as theshopper, and thus the shopper's mobile phone 20, comes within range of aparticular tag 50. However it is envisaged as being within the scope ofthe present invention for the relevant information, or at least partsthereof, to be additionally or alternatively displayed on the mobilephone 20.

This can be achieved by receiving the information from the tag 50 as itis transmitted via the mobile phone 20 and/or by downloading therelevant information from the touch-sensitive display 2. In theembodiment as shown in FIG. 4 for example, part of the informationdisplayed on the screen of the touch-sensitive display 2 is an option 58for the shopper to purchase the item of interest, in this case, a pairof shoes.

By pressing the relevant part of the touch-sensitive display 2, theshopper can rapidly purchase the product, preferably by a transactioncarried out with the mobile phone 20, such as a NFC transaction, therebyenabling the shopper to buy the shoes without need of cash, credit cardsor the like. In a preferred embodiment as shown, the shopper canadditionally or alternatively purchase the product using the partialinformation displayed on the mobile phone 20.

Therefore if the shopper wishes to buy the shoes, this can be achievedsimply by pressing the acceptance button 24 as discussed in relation toother embodiments. Preferably if the transaction is to be carried out inthis manner, the transaction is a suitable wireless transaction such asa NFC transaction.

In an alternative arrangement of the FIG. 4 embodiment, as shown in FIG.5 (in which many of the features are the same and the above descriptiontherefore equally applies to this embodiment unless contrary thereto),the tags 50 are connected to the interactive information provider(touch-sensitive display) 2, in this embodiment via cables (althoughthis connection could for example be a wireless connection, e.g.).

However data stored in the tags is only transmitted to thetouch-sensitive display 2 when the tag 50 determines that a mobilecommunications device (e.g. mobile phone 20 again) is in close proximityto it, which can be detected in any of the manners discussed above. Asfor the earlier embodiment, the data stored in the tag is relativelysmall (thus reducing the cost and power consumption of the tags 50 andthereby enabling a large number to be inexpensively provided) andtransmission of the data to the touch-sensitive display 2 causes thedata to be displayed to be retrieved from the memory of thetouch-sensitive display 2.

In this and all the other embodiments this is particularly advantageousbecause it is therefore only necessary to update information at a singlepoint (here, e.g. it is only necessary to update the touch-sensitivedisplay 2 memory) rather than it being necessary to update each of thetags 50, when the information is to be changed.

This is particularly advantageous in the shopping example because, forexample, if the price is to be changed, e.g. during a sale, then thiscan be readily achieved by updating the memory of the touch-sensitivedisplay 2 (e.g. remotely from a server to which the touch-sensitivedisplay 2 is connected and/or directly at the touch-sensitive display 2)rather than needing to find the tag 50, remove it from the product,connect it to a processor and change the data for each tag 50.

The tag 50 therefore need only, for example, contain a productindicator, such as a product code. Again in the FIG. 5 embodiment, themobile phone 20 can additionally display at least some of theinformation relating to the tag 50, by interaction with the tag 50and/or indirectly with the touch-sensitive display 2 via the tag 50.

It should be noted that references in the above embodiments to a mobilephone are not meant to be limiting and of course any other suitablemobile communications device could be used instead of, or in additionto, a mobile phone.

Furthermore references in the above embodiments to a touch-sensitivedisplay are not meant to be limiting and of course any suitableinteractive information provider could be used such as, for example atouch-sensitive plasma display, and/or a touch-sensitive LCD display,etc.

In all of the above embodiments, the interactive information provider(and/or any of the other information devices) may be a standaloneinformation centre, for example having a memory that can be updated onlyby direct interaction with the interactive information provider (usingfor example an administrator program on a, for example, laptop wired tothe interactive information provider) but more preferably theinteractive information provider is connected to a server, preferably aremote server such that it can be updated remotely.

The connection to the server can be wired and/or wireless. The otherinformation devices can additionally or alternatively be connected tothe same and/or different servers as appropriate.

In all of the above embodiments, each interactive information providerhas at least one means for communicating with a mobile communicationsdevice and preferably each interactive information provider has aplurality of different communication means, so that each interactiveinformation provider can communicate with any mobile communicationsdevices by any of a wide range of protocols and means.

Preferably at least some of the further information devices also have atleast some, if not all, of the required communications modules in orderthat they can also communicate with any mobile communications devices.

In all of the above embodiments, the interactive information providersand/or the further information devices, and/or the mobile communicationsdevices can have any suitable peripheral or other means associatedtherewith (preferably integrally provided therewith).

For example, the devices may further comprise any one or more of audiomeans (one or more speakers and/or microphones), card reader(s), remotecontrol devices, expansion slots/units, voice control units, and othersuitable control units, etc.

1. A method of providing information using an information device, themethod comprising: detecting, using a tag device, the presence of amobile communications device; transmitting data stored in the tag deviceto the information device in response to the detection; and displayingon a display of the information device information relating to the datareceived from the tag device.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein themobile communications device comprises a mobile telephone.
 3. The methodof claim 1, wherein the information device comprises one of a plasmascreen display and an LCD display.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein theinformation device comprises touch-sensitive input means associated withthe display.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing acommunications connection between the information device and the mobilecommunications device.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step ofestablishing a communication connection comprises establishing ashort-range wireless connection between the information device and themobile communications device.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein theinformation device is an interactive information device having a touchscreen display.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the information devicecomprises: a memory accessible for storing information selectable fordisplay; means for establishing a communications connection between theinformation device and the mobile communications device; and means fortransmitting data between the mobile communications device and theinformation device.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprisingallowing a user to select information for display on the display of theinformation device.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprisingtransmitting from the information device to the mobile communicationsdevice data relating to information to be displayed by a display of themobile communications device.
 11. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising configuring data for compatibility with a display of themobile communications device prior to transmitting data from theinformation device to the mobile communications device.
 12. The methodof claim 11, wherein the transmitted data comprises data identifyinginformation displayed on the display of the information device.
 13. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising identifying and retrieving data bya second information device in response to receiving data from themobile communications device.
 14. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising automatically displaying a previous screen the user viewed ona second information device when the mobile communications device comeswithin a communications range of the second information device.
 15. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: establishing a transactioncommunication between the mobile communications device and a secondinformation device; and performing a transaction associated withinformation displayed on a display of the second information device. 16.The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting data, by a secondinformation device, relating to an interaction with a user to at leastone other information device.
 17. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising performing the following steps by a second informationdevice: determining at least one of user information and preference datain response to interactions between the mobile communications device andthe information device; and using at least one of the user informationand preference data as control parameters for modifying informationprior to its display.
 18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:transmitting from a further information device at least some stored datatherein to at least one of the mobile communications device within acommunication range, and a second information device having a display.19. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing the followingsteps by a second information device: detecting the presence of themobile communications device; and transmitting data to at least one ofthe detected mobile communications device and another information devicein response to such detection.
 20. The method of claim 18, wherein thedata that is stored and transmitted by the further information device isassociated with at least one of a product and a service with which thefurther information device is associated.
 21. The method of claim 8,wherein the means for establishing a communications connection betweenthe information device and the mobile communications device comprises:means for establishing a communications connection between the mobilecommunications device and an intermediate device; and means forestablishing a communications connection between the intermediate deviceand the information device.
 22. A system for providing information usingan information device, the system comprising: the information device; atag device comprising means for detecting the presence of a mobilecommunications device; means for transmitting data stored in the tagdevice to the information device in response to detection by thedetection means; and means for displaying on a display of theinformation device information relating to the transmitted data receivedfrom the tag device.
 23. The system of claim 22, wherein the mobilecommunications device comprises a mobile telephone.
 24. The system ofclaim 22, wherein the information device comprises one of a plasmascreen display and an LCD display.
 25. The system of claim 22, whereinthe information device comprises touch-sensitive input means associatedwith the display.
 26. The system of claim 22, wherein the informationdevice further comprises means for establishing a communicationsconnection between the information device and the mobile communicationsdevice.
 27. The system of claim 26, wherein the means for establishing acommunication connection comprises means for establishing a short-rangewireless connection between the information device and the mobilecommunications device.
 28. The system of claim 22, wherein theinformation device is an interactive information device having a touchscreen display.
 29. The system of claim 22, wherein the informationdevice further comprises: a memory accessible for storing informationselectable for display; means for establishing a communicationsconnection between the information device and the mobile communicationsdevice; and means for transmitting data between the mobilecommunications device and the information device.
 30. The system ofclaim 22, wherein the information device further comprises means forallowing a user to select information for display on the display of theinformation device.
 31. The system of claim 22, wherein the informationdevice further comprises means for transmitting to the mobilecommunications device data relating to information to be displayed. 32.The system of claim 31, wherein the information device further comprisesmeans for configuring data for compatibility with a display of themobile communications device prior to transmitting data from theinformation device to the mobile communications device.
 33. The systemof claim 32, wherein the transmitted data comprises data identifyinginformation displayed on the display of the information device.
 34. Thesystem of claim 22, further comprising a second information devicecomprising means for identifying and retrieving data in response toreceiving data from the mobile communications device.
 35. The system ofclaim 22, further comprising a second information device comprisingmeans for automatically displaying a previous screen the user viewed onthe second information device when the mobile communications devicecomes within a communications range of the second information device.36. The system of claim 29, wherein the means for establishing acommunications connection comprises: means for establishing atransaction communication between the mobile communications device and asecond information device; and means for performing a transactionassociated with information displayed on a display of the secondinformation device.
 37. The system of claim 22, further comprising asecond information device comprising means for transmitting datarelating to an interaction with a user to at least one other informationdevice.
 38. The system of claim 22, further comprising a secondinformation device comprising: means for determining at least one ofuser information and preference data in response to interactions betweenthe mobile communications device and the information device; and meansfor using at least one of the user information and preference data ascontrol parameters for modifying information prior to its display. 39.The system of claim 22, further comprising at least one furtherinformation device comprising: means for transmitting at least somestored data therein to at least one of the mobile communications devicewithin a communication range, and a second information device having adisplay.
 40. The system of claim 22, further comprising a secondinformation device comprising: means for detecting the presence of themobile communications device; and means for transmitting data to atleast one of the detected mobile communications device and anotherinformation device in response to such detection.
 41. The system ofclaim 39, wherein the data that is stored and transmitted by the furtherinformation device is associated with at least one of a product and aservice with which the at least one further information device isassociated.
 42. The system of claim 29, wherein the means forestablishing a communications connection between the information deviceand the mobile communications device comprises: means for establishing acommunications connection between the mobile communications device andan intermediate device; and means for establishing a communicationsconnection between the intermediate device and the information device.